Singer Kesha burst into sobs in Manhattan civil court Friday when a judge ruled that she couldn’t break her exclusive recording contract with Sony and music producer Dr. Luke—even though the performer says the producer raped her and called her a “fat f—king refrigerator.”
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich said that Kesha would not have to work directly with Dr. Luke, whose real name is Luke Gottwald.
“She’s being given the opportunity to record, she can record,” Judge Kornreich said. “She does not have to have any interface at all with Mr. Gottwald in recording or producing.”
A lawyer for Kesha, whose full name is Kesha Rose Sebert, had argued that the singer’s “been on ice for two years” because she was tied to an exclusive recording contract with Dr. Luke.
“She doesn’t want to work with him,” Kesha’s attorney Mark Geragos told the judge.
The two are embroiled in cross-country legal battles, with Kesha, 28, suing Dr. Luke, 42, in California saying he raped her in an airplane and drove her to eating disorders.
He even allegedly called her a “fat f–king refrigerator,” at one point, according to court papers.
Dr. Luke counters that the claims are “blatant extortion.”
He countersued his former star in New York saying she fabricated the allegations to get out of her contract.
Dr. Luke wants to keep Kesha tied to her contract because he credits himself with her success, his lawyer said in court.
“When Kesha was discovered by my client she was no one,” the lawyer, Christine Lepera, said. “He made her famous.”
Kornreich refused to release Kesha from the agreement, a ruling that caused the 28-year-old singer to start crying in the back of the courtroom. A handful of fans who were in the courtroom also started sniffling.
Justice Kornreich didn’t buy Kesha’s arguments that Sony and Dr. Luke were trying to “destroy” her career.
“It’s not in their best interest not to make money and not to promote a recording artist in whom they’ve invested a lot of money,” Kornriech said.
The judge said she would issue another decision in the coming days about the validity of Kesha’s sexual-assault claims against the famed producer, who also works with Katy Perry and Rihanna.
Kesha says Dr. Luke was a sexual pariah—snorting drugs on a plane ride then forcing himself on her and pushing her to take “sober pills” that were actually a date rape drug. She later woke up naked in his bed, “sore and sick with no memory of how she got there,” according to her suit.
Dr. Luke’s lawyer, Jeffrey Movit, said Kesha waited too long to bring the sexual-assault claims. She’s alleged incidents occurred in 2005 and 2008.
“This is disgusting. She doesn’t deserve this,” one fan, Lindsay Scarpa, 18, told The Post outside court. Kesha, dressed in a glamorous cream-colored pantsuit, comforted her supporters with hugs and words of “it’s OK,” after the proceeding.
She left the lower Manhattan courthouse in a black SUV while a horde of 100 screaming fans yelled, “Free Kesha Now!”