Last week The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Dr. Luke was no longer the CEO of Kemosabe Records, his long-standing imprint with Sony Music, and the label to which his embattled protege Kesha is signed.
Kesha and Dr. Luke are currently involved in a long and arduous battle over alleged assault and abuse claims that Kesha has filed against the producer, and it seemed the label had cut ties with Luke because of this. However, that does not seem to be the case.
Today The New York Times pop music critic and reporter Joe Coscarelli pointed out that in legal documents filed to the court, Sony had clarified their relationship with Luke is indeed intact:
re Kesha: Dr. Luke’s lawyers, in a court filing on Fri, are pushing back against the idea that Sony has cut ties pic.twitter.com/VUpjoGFl9B
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) May 1, 2017
a letter filed by Luke’s lawyer to the judge that I pulled from the NY court documents
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) May 1, 2017
From the letter that Luke’s lawyer filed to the judge:
“Plaintiffs do wish to clarify certain matters that were set forth in the April 21, 2017 letter to the Court. Contrary to what might have been incorrectly inferred from that letter, there has been no severing of the ties between Mr. Gottwald and Sony Music. Although the contractual term of Mr. Gottwald’s employment agreement to serve as the CEO of Kemosabe Records concluded in March 2017, Mr. Gottwald and Sony Music maintain a continuing relationship with regard to Kemosabe Records, and Mr. Gottwald holds approval rights with respect to certain business matters.”
Notably, it was the “Free Kesha” movement — spurred by a judge’s decision that she could not record music without Luke/Kemosabe — that was created by fans and brought a lot of attention to the matter. Now, Luke’s camp has subpoenaed the fan who began that movement to see if the fan was coerced by Kesha’s camp, and continues to double down on his innocence.
