Katy Perry is fighting in court to keep a deposition that she gave in the ongoing Dr. Luke–Kesha case from becoming public. Perry’s involvement in the case only became public recently, when Luke claimed in court that Kesha lied in a 2016 text message to Lady Gaga saying that Luke had raped the “Roar” singer. In court yesterday, Perry’s lawyer argued that releasing the deposition “could unfairly affect and even cause ‘significant harm’ to her ‘career and reputation.'”
Kesha and Luke have been battling in court since 2014, when the singer accused her longtime songwriter and producer of raping and abusing her in 2005. Luke has maintained his innocence, and soon filed defamation and breach-of-contract counterclaims against Kesha, accusing her of running a “vicious smear campaign” against him. His claims about the text messages between Kesha and Gaga were made public as part of the defamation suit in June.
Perry, who also worked extensively with Luke in the past, has not spoken publicly about her involvement in the case. Perry’s attorney’s argument for sealing it, via Page Six, is below:
“The sealing of Ms. Hudson’s deposition testimony is particularly appropriate because disclosure — in light of her public profile — obviously could unfairly affect and even cause ‘significant harm’ to her ‘career and reputation,’” argued Hal Shaftel, the lawyer for Perry, whose real name is Katheryn Hudson, in court papers.
“Because of her high-profile status as an artist, advocate and role model, Ms. Hudson is vulnerable to ‘gossip column’ frenzy aimed at exaggerating salacious matters having little to nothing to do with the merits — whatever they may be — of the substantive, material issues in this case,” Shaftel added.
Perry is in a tough spot here. If the claims in the text messages are true, releasing her deposition would force her to go public about an incident that she is evidently not interested in talking about at this time. And if they’re not, by denying them she risks looking like she’s coming to Luke’s defense, regardless of how she may feel about the merits of Kesha’s case. According to Page Six, if her deposition is not sealed, the court could release a transcript as early as today, August 21.
