(Photo: Getty Images For Billboard Magazine, Nicholas Hunt)

Even for people who don’t always take Kesha’s side in her protracted legal war with producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald (like his lawyers or immediate family members), it’s pretty easy to recognize that he rarely comes across as a good guy. That’s to be expected when you get sued by a popular recording artist because you won’t let her out of her contract and also because you allegedly abused her. But every step of the way, Gottwald and his team have made a point to specifically refute every single one of Kesha’s claims as publicly as possible, making him look like the kid on the playground who shouts “nu-uh!” every time another kid says he threw rocks at them. Also, as we noted last week when he claimed that Kesha owes him money, he could easily make all of this stop if he would just let her out of her contract, but apparently all he wants at this point is to bury her—while also producing several albums for her.


Now, Kesha has released a batch of emails between her, her manager Monica Cornia, and Gottwald that—to put it mildly—make him look like a real asshole. As reported by Page Six, most of the emails seem to revolve around Gottwald criticizing Kesha’s weight, like one where he has “a discussion” about seeing her break an “all-juice fast” by drinking a Diet Coke and eating turkey. He also suggests that “A-list songwriters and producers” didn’t want to work with her “because of her weight.”

In another exchange, Kesha suggested changing a line in her song “Crazy Kids” from “You see us in the club sip-sippin’ bub” to “You see us in the streets we da we da freaks” because she doesn’t go to clubs, but Gottwald responded, “I don’t give a shit what you want. If you were smart you would go in and sing it.” Kesha supposedly tried to work this out with Gottwald in the studio, but she “didn’t feel comfortable talking to him.” (For the record, neither line ended up in the final song.)


Kesha released these emails in an attempt to get a judge to reconsider ruling that she couldn’t simply walk away from her contract last year, and the two parties are scheduled to talk to a judge next week. Now, if every other Kesha/Dr. Luke story is anything to go by, it’s just a matter of time before he claims that she’s actually the one who has been criticizing his weight.



UPDATE: Gottwald’s team has now responded to Kesha, but he has not accused her of criticizing his weight yet. Instead, the statement says that she is the one who was concerned about her weight, and Gottwald was only showing “tremendous support” by helping with her “artistic and personal issues.” You can see the full statement below:

Kesha and her attorneys continue to mislead by refusing to disclose the larger record of evidence showing the bad faith of Kesha Sebert and her representatives which is greatly damaging to them. It also shows the tremendous support that Dr. Luke provided Kesha regarding artistic and personal issues, including Kesha’s own concerns over her weight. Rather than agree to a thorough disclosure, Kesha and her representatives improperly publicized, without Court permission, three out-of-context emails which do not present the full picture regarding the events they concern. For example, these emails do not show that the lyrics of “Crazy Kids” were, in fact, rewritten at Kesha’s request. Any claim by Kesha to the contrary is deceiving the public-just like her other meritless claims of wrongdoing by Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke looks forward to full vindication in Court.