‘Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime’
A judge has just thrown out Kesha's entire case against Dr. Luke, in a devastating move for the singer. Today's news is a huge boost for producer Dr. Luke, who's had all but one of the charges against him from Kesha's legal team dropped by New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich (one charge remains in a lawsuit filed by Kesha in L.A.)
If you've been following the case, you'll remember that Kesha was denied an injunction to get out of her contract with Dr. Luke in February this year. At the time, Justice Kornreich said that she'd like to see more evidence from the singer's defence team, specifically relating to Kesha's claims that being forced to remain under contract to Sony was tantamount to a 'hate crime'.
According to TMZ, the judge rejected the claim that Dr. Luke had committed a 'hate crime' against Kesha by stating that "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", before going on to conclude that "every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime". Equally, the judge didn't agree that Kesha was effectively being made to be a slave to Sony, saying the label had given her opportunities to work with other producers and hence by rejecting that offer, Kesha had been unreasonable.
Although the story is still unfolding, and we've haven't had an official comment from either Sony, Dr. Luke or Kesha's camp, what's certain is this is an almost impossible setback for Kesha in her ongoing attempts to free herself from her contract. A long-running case which has exposed the complex faultlines of power and gendered inequality that run through the music industry, Kesha's case has been an examplar for many of the challenges faced by survivors of sexual violence in getting their stories heard and taken seriously by society as a whole. The question for many now will be, where does today's ruling leave Kesha now that her legal options have been exhausted?
