Musician Kesha has been ordered to pay music producer Dr. Luke hundreds of thousands of dollars in an ongoing defamation lawsuit.
Kesha will specifically pay Dr. Luke $373,671.88 in damages, according to a report published Thursday by Entertainment Tonight. The figure is reportedly what the “We R Who We R” singer owes Dr. Luke’s recording company KMI.
Dr. Luke claimed Kesha defamed him by sending a text to Lady Gaga in 2016 claiming that the music producer raped musician Katy Perry. The “California Girls” singer denied being sexually assaulted by Dr. Luke in 2017.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that [Dr. Luke] raped Katy Perry. Moreover, publication of a false statement to even one person, here Lady Gaga, is sufficient to impose liability,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter said.
Kesha and her legal representation argued that Dr. Luke was a public figure and thus he needed to prove the text was sent with actual malice, which means that the statement was knowingly false and done so recklessly.
Judge Schecter ruled that Dr. Luke is not a “public figure” and “has never been a household name or achieved general pervasive fame and notoriety in the community,” so therefore the “actual malice standard” doesn’t apply. (RELATED: Kesha Explains Why She’s Dropping Her Case Against Dr. Luke)
“Dr. Luke is pursuing this lawsuit to seek recovery for the serious harm Kesha’s false accusations of rape have caused Dr. Luke, his family and his business,” Dr. Luke’s legal team said in a statement to ET. “Today’s important decision by the Court in Dr. Luke’s lawsuit brings him closer to the justice that he seeks.”
“First, the Court has now ruled that Kesha made a false and defamatory accusation about Dr. Luke when she baselessly claimed that he raped Katy Perry,” the statement continued. “Second, the Court rejected Kesha’s attempts to invoke legal technicalities to avoid responsibility for her statements. And third, the Court also correctly held that Kesha breached her contract with Dr. Luke’s company. Dr. Luke looks forward to the trial of his case where he will prove that Kesha’s other false statements about him were equally false and defamatory.”
Meanwhile, Kesha’s legal team said they “disagree” with the ruling.
“We disagree with the Court’s rulings,” the legal team said in a statement to Variety. “We plan to immediately appeal.”