In February, a Manhattan judge rejected Kesha’s preliminary injunction request, which would have freed her from Sony contract and prevented her from working further with her producer Dr. Luke, whom she’s accused of physical and mental abuse. At the time, Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich said that such an injunction would cause the label “irreparable harm” and also noted that voiding the original record deal would “undermine the state’s laws governing contracts.”
Today, Kesha has received her biggest legal blow yet, as the same judge has completely thrown out her case against Sony and Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald). In the ruling, Kornreich dismissed Kesha’s allegations that Gottwald “violated human rights and hate crime laws by drugging, sexually abusing and emotionally tormenting her.”
“Although [Luke’s] alleged actions were directed to Kesha, who is female, [her claims] do no allege that [Luke] harbored animus toward women or was motivated by gender animus when he allegedly behaved violently toward Kesha,” court documents of the ruling state. The judge added, saying, “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime.”
As The Associated Press reports, Kesha’s claims of rape and abuse also couldn’t move forward because of jurisdiction issues: “The alleged incidents happened outside New York, stretch beyond legal time limits and don’t meet the high legal bar for ‘intentional infliction of emotional distress.’”
In addition, Kornreich dismissed Kesha’s lawyers’ claims that forcing the pop star to work with Gottwald was akin to slavery. “The judge didn’t buy Kesha’s ‘slavery’ argument because Sony wasn’t pushing for her to work only with Dr. Luke,” TMZ notes. “They would have made other producers available. By rejecting that offer, the judge felt Kesha was unreasonable.”
Wednesday’s ruling comes just days after Kesha claimed Sony offered to let her out of her contract on the condition that she recanted her abuse allegations. Despite the public scrutiny — as well as the #FreeKesha movement and support from Adele, Lady Gaga, and Demi Lovato — Gottwald continues to deny any wrongdoing.