Katy Perry has vehemently denied that Dr. Luke ever raped her or tried to sexually assault her, despite Kesha allegedly claiming otherwise. The record producer is suing the “Timber” singer for defamation for her very public accusations that he had raped her and is claiming she cooked up a campaign to bring him down. In a newly unsealed deposition that was released on Aug. 27, Katy denied that he ever tried anything unprofessional with her.The 33-year-old replied “No” when an attorney asked “Did Dr. Luke ever rape you?” Her answer was “absolutely not” when asked “Did Dr. Luke ever sexually assault you?” Katy also answered “No” when asked if he’d ever given her a roofie or had a sexual relationship with the 44-year-old, real name Lukasz Gottwald. The two had a longtime working relationship, with hits including “Hot N Cold,” “California Gurls” and “Dark Horse.”
In Dr. Luke’s suit, he alleges that Kesha sent a text message to Lady Gaga in February 2016 in which she claimed that he raped Katy. But Kesha, 31, claims both she and the 32-year-old singer/actress actually heard the rape rumor from Interscope Geffen A&M Records chairman and CEO John Janick according to the new court docs. Parts of Gaga’s heavily redacted deposition were released and she said that Janick told her and Kesha “he had heard a rumor” about Luke and Katy. Gaga then said she couldn’t remember if he used the word “rumor,” and didn’t “recall exactly the way he said it.” Instead she said “I just recall that it was brought up — by him.”
Kesha and Dr. Luke’s drama dates back to 2014, when the “Tik Tok” singer went public with claims that her longtime producer sexually assaulted her. He then filed a complaint against her for not working on a third album required under their contract. Then, Kesha filed a countersuit against him demanding she be released from their deal, claiming that Dr. Luke had allegedly raped her and verbally abused her for several years. In 2016 a judge ruled against Kesha and said she had to finish out her recording contract.
Court documents from Dr. Luke’s defamation lawsuit obtained by HollywoodLife.com on June 13 read in part, “On February 26, 2016 [Kesha] sent a text message to Stefani Germanotta p/k/a/ Lady Gaga which repeated [Kesha’s] false claim that [Luke] had raped her. [Kesha] also falsely asserted that [Luke] had also raped Kathryn Hudson p/k/a/ Katy Perry,” adding, “Following this text message conversation, and with [Kesha’s] encouragement, [Gaga] spread negative messages about [Luke] in the press and on social media.” Luke is seeking $50 million from Kesha in his civil suit, alleging that the Katy rape allegations alone cost him over $10 million in future work.