The past few months have seen several developments for Kesha’s battle to dissolve her contract with Sony and producer Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records imprint. After a court denied her injunction request, Kesha was unable to record music elsewhere after alleging that Dr. Luke abused her for years. There’s been a lot of back and forth with the producer filing a countersuit against Kesha, and at one point, an old deposition video surfaced. Throughout this saga, Dr. Luke has continued to defend himself and unequivocally deny all allegations against him.
Kesha appealed the court’s ruling and alluded to a settlement offer last weekend, which she claims to have rejected along with the condition for a public apology. Dr. Luke responded to Kesha’s statement by maintaining his stance. On Wednesday, a New York judge formally dismissed Kesha’s appeal. NBC News reports that the Manhattan State Supreme Court’s decision was based on a few procedural points. First, the alleged abuse took place in California, which sits far outside the court’s jurisdiction. Secondly, the case is now barred by the statute of limitations. The judge also said Kesha’s claims don’t meet the threshold for human rights crimes:
The judge also ruled the claims don’t prove any alleged violence “was motivated by gender animus” under hate crime laws. “Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime,” Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich said in the ruling. “Her claims of insults about her value as an artist, her looks, and her weight are insufficient to constitute extreme, outrageous conduct intolerable in civilized society,” the judge wrote.
Justice Kornreich also determined that Kesha’s refusal to accept Sony’s offer of another producer was unreasonable, although the singer’s attorneys previously branded this promise as “illusory.” Throughout this case, all claims were pursued as a civil matter, and no criminal charges have been brought against Dr. Luke.
