# Kesha sues top producer Dr. Luke - 10 years of abuse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410 "2014-10-15T16:47:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/1 "2014-10-15T16:47:34Z")
> **[Kesha accuses Dr. Luke of sex abuse, but he says she’s extorting him | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/14/showbiz/kesha-dr-luke-lawsuits/index.html?hpt=hp_t4)** > > Kesha and Dr. Luke exchanged harsh accusations in lawsuits filed by the singer and producer Tuesday. > [@](#): > > Los Angeles (CNN) – Kesha and Dr. Luke exchanged harsh accusations in lawsuits filed by the singer and producer Tuesday. > > Kesha’s civil complaint filed in Los Angeles claims that Dr. Luke sexually, physically and verbally abused her over the 10 years since he signed her as an 18-year-old artist. > > Dr. Luke’s lawsuit filed hours later in New York contends Kesha made up “outrageous and untrue statements” to extort him into releasing her from her recording contract with his label. I assume **Ponch8** will take over and drive this thread 😉 (which is fine by me). I just saw this - pretty heavy. Dr. Luke is one of the biggest producers of the past decade, working with a ton of top pop stars. Kesha taking this type of shot - which apparently has led to a counter-suit from Dr. Luke - is definitely a turning point in her career. It sounds like she’s trying to get out of a contract, but doing it by leveling serious accusations at him. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/2 "2014-10-15T17:31:37Z")
I would be absolutely floored if this wasn’t the tip of a really gross iceberg. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/3 "2014-10-15T18:48:49Z")
I’m disappointed. I had never heard of Dr. Luke, so I had to google him. No way the guy is _that_ crazy; he hasn’t even come up with a good hairdo yet. Everyone knows that [to be a crazy record producer guy, you gotta have a good hairdo](https://www.google.com/search?q=phil+spector&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tcA-VLanAaTtigLnpIDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1227&bih=920). ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/4 "2014-10-15T18:52:59Z")
Her lawyer is Mark Geragos. That guy is a bulldog ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/5 "2014-10-15T19:18:43Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’m disappointed. > > I had never heard of Dr. Luke, so I had to google him. No way the guy is _that_ crazy; he hasn’t even come up with a good hairdo yet. > > Everyone knows that [to be a crazy record producer guy, you gotta have a good hairdo](https://www.google.com/search?q=phil+spector&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tcA-VLanAaTtigLnpIDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1227&bih=920). Dr. Luke was a guitarist in the SNL band for years, then moved to producing, first working for Max Martin, then ending up more as a partner. I know you know this from whatever source you read - just getting it into the thread… ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/6 "2014-10-15T19:23:14Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’m disappointed. > > I had never heard of Dr. Luke, so I had to google him. No way the guy is _that_ crazy; he hasn’t even come up with a good hairdo yet. > > Everyone knows that [to be a crazy record producer guy, you gotta have a good hairdo](https://www.google.com/search?q=phil+spector&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=tcA-VLanAaTtigLnpIDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1227&bih=920). Or be in chokey for having shot someone dead. Oddly enough the previous **[page](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/10/the-saddest-thing-about-the-keshadr-luke-lawsuit/381463/)** I looked at dealt with this case, having clicked from a park-ranger tasering case in The Atlantic, and also not having heard of this fellow, but strenuously admiring the good looks of Kesha, whom I wouldn’t listen to on a bet. The photograph in The Atlantic is damn fine. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/7 "2014-10-16T18:14:55Z")
_bump_ Kinda surprised this isn’t getting more posts. Seems like a big deal. And where the heck is **Ponch8**? I was assuming he’d show up ready to burn Dr. Luke in effigy!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/8 "2014-10-16T19:01:26Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > … strenuously admiring the good looks of Kesha You realize what that sounds like a euphemism for, right? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/9 "2014-10-16T19:07:31Z")
Isn’t this the guy who kept telling her she was fat to the point that she had to check into rehab for an eating disorder? Yeah, I’ll buy that he’s an exploitative shit that did the rest of this crap. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/10 "2014-10-16T20:01:15Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Isn’t this the guy who kept telling her she was fat to the point that she had to check into rehab for an eating disorder? That’s part of the lawsuit too. We’ll probably never know what really happened, but I’d bet money that this jackhole is going to try to use the Kesha stage character (a drunk and oversexed airhead) against her. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/11 "2014-10-16T20:04:58Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > That’s part of the lawsuit too. > > We’ll probably never know what really happened, but I’d bet money that this jackhole is going to try to use the Kesha stage character (a drunk and oversexed airhead) against her. She’s not dumb - I believe she states in the lawsuit that she got top SAT scores, etc. I have heard her interviewed on NPR and she came across as very articulate. So I have seen all along that the drunk and oversexed bit is part of her branding… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/12 "2014-10-16T21:15:37Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > She’s not dumb - I believe she states in the lawsuit that she got top SAT scores, etc. I have heard her interviewed on NPR and she came across as very articulate. So I have seen all along that the drunk and oversexed bit is part of her branding… Right, but she only admitted it publicly very recently. I would bet there’s a lot of people that have no idea that “Kesha the drunken singer” and “Kesha the person that plays her” are two different people. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/13 "2014-10-16T21:23:58Z")
Not much need for Ke$ha to publicize this unless she’s trying revive her flagging career. Publicity doesn’t win you lawsuits. Settlements…maybe. Not lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/14 "2014-10-16T21:38:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Right, but she only admitted it publicly very recently. I would bet there’s a lot of people that have no idea that “Kesha the drunken singer” and “Kesha the person that plays her” are two different people. The NPR interview I heard must’ve been 3-plus years ago. ETA: [$uper$tar Ke$ha Top$ Chart$ : NPR](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122610692) from 2010 > [@](#): > > “When I was in high school, I’d come home, and for fun we’d write songs together,” she says. “I wrote every song on this album. I always knew it was what I wanted to do. … I never believed in having a backup plan.” > > With near-perfect SAT scores, for her, a backup plan was never out of the realm of possibility. As a teenager, Ke$ha had a strong intellectual curiosity that extended beyond the music world. > > “I was very studious,” she says. “I was in the international baccalaureate program, I loved physics and math, and I was in the marching band. After practice, I would drive to Belmont [a college in Nashville] and listen to Cold War history classes; I just think it’s so interesting. I was really curious about a lot of things that are much deeper than partying and dancing.” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/15 "2014-10-16T22:10:51Z")
Somehow I missed this thread until now. I’ll try to stay more on top of things from now on. 🙂 The accusations are indeed very sad. However, I’m not at all surprised. This Dr. Luke asshole has been making her life miserable, as I alluded to in a couple previous posts over the last few months. I hope he loses everything and spend the rest of his life destitute. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/16 "2014-10-17T00:47:29Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > Somehow I missed this thread until now. I’ll try to stay more on top of things from now on. 🙂 > > The accusations are indeed very sad. However, I’m not at all surprised. This Dr. Luke asshole has been making her life miserable, as I alluded to in a couple previous posts over the last few months. I hope he loses everything and spend the rest of his life destitute. But with better, and more interesting, hair. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/17 "2014-10-17T01:43:42Z")
the entertainment “industry” is probably one of the filthiest and most exploitative ones still in operation. We’ve built a society which says you have to get attention to be worth something, and lo and behold there are a shitload of skeevy fucks in southern California who promise to get you that attention. So long as you let them fuck you, that is. The “casting couch” has been a meme for decades for a reason. I’ll give Ke$ha the benefit of the doubt on this one. ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/18 "2014-10-17T02:09:53Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > the entertainment “industry” is probably one of the filthiest and most exploitative ones still in operation. We’ve built a society which says you have to get attention to be worth something, and lo and behold there are a shitload of skeevy fucks in southern California who promise to get you that attention. So long as you let them fuck you, that is. The “casting couch” has been a meme for decades for a reason. I’ll give Ke$ha the benefit of the doubt on this one. Oh come on . . . ANY industry where there are people holding positions of power over other people (which btw, is ALL industries, everywhere) there are going to be cases of sexual exploitation. There are no shortage of these cases pending or decided in the court system from every industry imaginable. So stop with the nonsense that it only happens, or is only rampant, in the entertainment industry or in SoCal. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/19 "2014-10-17T03:38:10Z")
No doubt it happens in every industry, but be real - there aren’t a ton of young people dying to be CPAs or coders or whatever who are as easily taken advantage of by unscrupulous and/or fake representatives of the industry as young people dreaming of making it in show business. I’d actually be shocked if it _wasn’t_ more common in the entertainment world than in other businesses. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410/20 "2014-10-17T04:58:33Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > No doubt it happens in every industry, but be real - there aren’t a ton of young people dying to be CPAs or coders or whatever who are as easily taken advantage of by unscrupulous and/or fake representatives of the industry as young people dreaming of making it in show business. I’d actually be shocked if it _wasn’t_ more common in the entertainment world than in other businesses. A lot of big booming industries have it manifest in their own way. Coders, especially in the video game sector, have real problems with being worked to literally unhealthy levels. See the old [EA Spouse](http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html) thing. It’s something more common with smaller startups, though. It’s nowhere near as bad as sexual assault, but a lot of industries with demand to get into it can be hell to work for because the employers hold a lot of power, even in the face of unions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kesha-sues-top-producer-dr-luke-10-years-of-abuse/701410.md?page=2)