Kesha and Dr. Luke have settled out of court, both share public statements

Almost a decade after Kesha first accused prolific producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald of sexual assault and kicked off two competing legal battles—with Kesha suing him for the alleged assault and him suing her for allegedly making it up and for trying to break her recording contract—the suits have been settled out of court. The specific terms haven’t been released, and almost certainly never will be, but The Hollywood Reporter says that one aspect of their agreement is that both Kesha and Gottwald have shared each other’s public statements on the settlement. Here they are from Kesha’s Instagram:

In her post, Kesha notably refuses to “recount everything that happened,” saying “only god knows what happened that night,” but she adds that she’s “looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one.” Gottwald, meanwhile, maintains that “nothing happened” that night but acknowledges that Kesha won’t recount all of her accusations, and he ends his statement by saying, “It is time for me to put this difficult matter behind me and move on with my life. I wish Kesha well.”

This seemingly puts one final period on what has really been nine years of legal battles between the two of them, a saga that predates the rise of the #MeToo movement and has constantly followed both of the people at the center of it. Kesha got it a lot worse, especially as she suffered a number of setbacks in court (and nearly onstage), but Gottwald also faced some professional heat from the blowback over the accusation.

In 2020, a judge ruled that a text Kesha had sent to Lady Gaga in which she accused Gottwald of rape was defamation, and in 2021, another court denied Kesha’s attempt to appeal that ruling on the grounds that Gottwald is not a “public figure”—which changes the standards for that kind of defamation suit. But, as THR points out, that ruling was reversed earlier this year, significantly raising the standards for what constitutes defamation. Basically, Gottwald’s attorneys would’ve had to prove that Kesha acted with “actual malice,” which means they would’ve had to prove that she knew for a fact that her accusation was false, which might have been difficult.

We don’t know if that has any bearing on the two parties’ decision to settle, of course, but it is a notable part of the timeline. Either way, we can now apparently close the book on this long and difficult story by noting, for one last time, that Kesha’s post-lawsuit comeback single “Praying” still fuckin’ rips.