Producer Dr. Luke’s defamation case against singer Kesha will not go to trial following a settlement reached between the former collaborators.
The pair issued a joint statement confirming the 2014 suit filed by Lukasz Gottwald, professionally known as Dr. Luke, would be dropped per an agreement announced Thursday. The would-be litigants had planned to tell their stories in court in the coming weeks.
Kesha accused Dr. Luke of sexually assaulting her in 2005. Gottwald, who denies the charge, filed his defamation claim after Kesha filed a lawsuit accusing him of drugging and raping her nearly a decade earlier. She dropped that suit in 2016.
“As I have always said, I cannot recount everything that happened,” the singer’s statement read. “I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter in my life and beginning a new one.”
Kesha concluded her statement saying she wishes “peace to all parties involved.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Luke said he “appreciated” his accuser’s acknowledgement that she had no recollection of what happened the night she claimed she was abused, stating he’s “absolutely certain” nothing occurred.
“I never drugged or assaulted her and would never to that to anyone,” he said.
Dr. Luke said that for the sake of his family he’s worked for nearly a decade to clear his name and looked forward to moving ahead. “I wish Kesha well,” he concluded.
Thursday’s agreement would appear to end a highly scrutinized saga that played out in international media.
Pop stars Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Pink, all of whom have worked with Dr. Luke, gave sworn testimony pertinent to the litigants’ dispute.
Dr. Luke, now 49, began working with the 36-year-old singer after discovering her in Nashville in 2005. She was 18 at the time.
They collaborated to record the 2009 hit “TiK ToK” for Kesha’s debut album, “Animal.”
During sworn 2017 testimony, Kesha alleged “the abuse [she] suffered from Luke was a decade long, every day, every moment of every day.”
Dr. Luke called the claims “completely untrue” and suggested Kesha was trying to get out of their record deal. He also said the bad publicity dissuaded other artists from working with someone who might be “a rapist.”
Kesha seemed to catch a break last week when a New York appellate court ruled Dr. Luke is a “limited public figure,” putting the onus on the songwriting producer to prove his accuser acted with “actual malice” when she spoke ill of him.
Terms of their settlement were not disclosed.