What did Dr Luke do to Kesha? Timeline of events explored as years-long dispute reaches resolution

Singer-songwriter Kesha and producer Dr Luke have reached a resolution to their decade-long dispute via an out-of-court settlement. The resolution followed a new court ruling on the defamation trial which established Dr Luke as a public figure. Thus increasing the burden of proof required on his behalf to prove that Kesha has actually acted in malice against him.

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of r*pe, s*xual assault, eating disorder, and forced drug usage. Discretion is advised.

The duo announced the resolution via their official Instagram page respectively on June 22, 2023.

The dispute had started after Kesha had filed a lawsuit against Dr Luke alleging r*pe, s*xual harassment, and abuse stemming from her first contact with him in 2005.

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The timeline of events in the Kesha and Dr Luke legal dispute

Kesha Rose Sebert, born in Nashville, Tennessee, was first introduced to Dr Luke while she was in high school. She was enrolled in an International Baccalaureate program, with near-perfect SAT scores to back it up.

When she met Dr Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, he convinced her to drop out of school and move to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. The singer claimed to have done the same and acted upon Dr Luke's request.

According to Kesha's original lawsuit, her abuse by Dr Luke began abusing her as soon as she moved to Los Angeles. The lawsuit stated that she was forced to take drugs and alcohol and suffer through multiple assaults, including events of one particular night, the date of which hasn't been revealed.

"On another occasion, after forcing Ms. Sebert to drink with him, Dr. Luke instructed Ms. Sebert to take what he described as “sober pills” in order for her to sober up. Ms. Sebert took the pills and woke up the following afternoon, naked in Dr. Luke’s bed, sore and sick, with no memory of how she got there," the lawuit mentioned.

The singer would later learn that the pills in question were gamma hydroxybutyrate(GHB) pills, a common form of date-r*pe drugs. These pills are particularly easy to mix into drinks, and undetectable in urine samples, a common procedure that is part of standard r*pe-test kits.

The lawsuit also alleges that the abuse continued for several more years. It added that the producer bought Kesha's silence by threatening her and her family. All of this also reportedly contributed to her CVID, eating disorder, panic attacks, and social isolation.

The singer's plight was first brought to wider public attention in 2013 after fans made an online petition to free her from Dr Luke's management. They pointed out how little control she had over her second studio album, Warrior, and its production processes.

The singer filed her original lawsuit in 2014 under the New York Supreme Court, which included a preliminary injunction to be released from the Kemosabe Records contract.

New York Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich ruled against the grant of a preliminary injunction in 2016. Judge Kornreich dismissed all charges of abuse against Dr Luke in April 2016.

The case moved to a defamation trial in 2020 and 2021. At this point, Dr Luke had to prove that the singer had maliciously aimed her lawsuit at him in order to defame him in the public eye. The case was resolved with the newly announced settlement.