Judge Rules Kesha Defamed Dr. Luke by Claiming He Raped Katy Perry

Kesha has been in the middle of a legal battle with Dr. Luke for years now and he just scored a victory in his case against her.

Dr. Luke sued Kesha for defamation over a claim she made that he raped Katy Perry while texting with Lady Gaga.

Katy was deposed and she denied that she was ever raped by Dr. Luke. Now, a judge has ruled that Kesha defamed the music producer because of the publication of this text message.

“Kesha made a false statement to Lady Gaga about Gottwald that was defamatory per se,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter wrote in a decision Thursday (via Page Six). “There is no evidence whatsoever that Gottwald raped Katy Perry. Moreover, publication of a false statement to even one person, here Lady Gaga, is sufficient to impose liability.”

A jury must now decide at trial if Kesha defamed Dr. Luke.

The judge also ordered Kesha to pay Dr. Luke over $373,000 in interest because she was late in her payment of $1.3 million in royalties to the producer. Her counterclaim that served as her request to be released from a contract with his record company was rejected.

“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,” his lawyer Christine Lepera said in a statement. “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.”

Kesha had previously sued Dr. Luke for alleged sexual and emotional abuse, but she dropped her case.