Fighting back. Lady Gaga defended her friend Kesha when she was questioned by Dr. Luke’s lawyers in a September 2017 deposition stemming from his defamation lawsuit against the “Praying” singer.
In newly unsealed court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Gaga, 32, recalled meeting Kesha for the first time. The A Star Is Born actress claimed the 31-year-old musician was wearing only her underwear in a back room of Dr. Luke’s studio at the time of their encounter.
The Golden Globe winner opened up about her friendship with Kesha as her peer talked to her about her experiences with the music producer, 45. “What we discussed was, what I recall was, her immense sadness and depression and fear,” Gaga explained. “She was visibly very different than when I had seen her before … but I can’t say specifically what we spoke about. I just recall it was emotional and I wanted to be there for her.”
The “Shallow” songstress claimed in the deposition that Kesha told her Dr. Luke (real name Lukasz Gottwald) had sexually assaulted her. Dr. Luke’s lawyers pressed Gaga about whether she had evidence of the two-time Grammy nominee’s allegations, to which she replied: “Well, you know — when men assault women, they don’t invite people over to watch.”
She continued: “And when this happens in this industry, it is kept extremely secret, and it is compounded by contracts and manipulative power scenarios that actually include this very situation that we are all in right now.”
Gaga, whose lawyer pointed out that she is “a sex abuse survivor” and was triggered by the deposition, went on to slam Dr. Luke’s lawyers. “I have factual knowledge of her depression. I have factual knowledge of her need for support and love. I have factual knowledge of the spiral that I watched that girl go down. I have factual knowledge of trauma,” she insisted. “I am informed and intelligent about this issue. That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of it right now. And you are all a party to it.”
She added: “Why on earth would this girl tell the entire world this happened? Why on earth? Do you know what it’s like for survivors? Do you know what it’s like to tell people? Don’t you roll your eyes at me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The deposition stemmed from a text message conversation between Gaga and Kesha, in which the “TiK ToK” singer alleged that Dr. Luke raped her in 2006. The exchange was subpoenaed by Dr. Luke’s legal team for his defamation suit against his accuser.
Kesha also claimed to the Oscar nominee that Dr. Luke sexually assaulted Katy Perry, which both he and the “Roar” singer denied. Gaga made headlines in November 2018 for calling Perry “mean” in a text message, but the two later showed love for each other on Twitter.
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