Rape is Probably not a Good Thing

keha-600x450I know the title of this post is probably a very controversial opinion, but hear me out.

You might have noticed that the past week I’ve been posting a lot of things about Ke$ha using the tags #FreeKesha or #IStandWithKesha.  It’s not about a singer who was sort-of famous 5 years ago being on sale, but a much uglier case.  If you follow pop music news less religiously that I, let me fill you in…

Some time ago, Ke$ha revealed that her manager, Dr Luke, has raped her.  Naturally, she no longer wanted to work with him, and tried to get out of her recording contract which would otherwise bind her for years or decades to come.  America being America, lawsuits happened back and forth, but the gist of it is that a week ago it was decided that she would not be freed from her contract prematurely.

The thing is that in the case, at most one of Ke$ha and Dr Luke can lie.  Either she’s lying that he raped her or he’s lying that he didn’t.  It’s also possible none of them are lying and they just saw the entire situation differently.  But at the end of the day, at least one of them is innocent.

But the thing is that no matter what, they both lose.  So no matter what they both lose by dragging out the case.

Ke$ha might not be a star like Britney, but she did have hits like Tok Tok, Die Young, Animal, We R Who We R, Blah Blah Blah, Crazy Kids, Your Love is My Drug, and last Timber.  Oh, and that part of about her not being a star like Britney?  Ke$ha did write one of Britney’s big hits from the Femme Fatale era, Till the World Ends.  But the world has heard almost nothing about her since 2012/2013 – the big debacle started in 2014.  That’s long in music years, and with the prospect of the lawsuit lasting long into the future, Ke$ha cannot make or record any music unless she does it with the guy that raped her.  She essentially has the choice between working with her rapist or putting her career on ice, potentially killing irrecoverably.

The record label on the other hand cannot release her from the contract.  The case between Ke$ha and Dr Luke decided if he did indeed rape has not been decided yet, so until that happens, he did not rape her – he allegedly raped her.  If she was released, it’s easy to imagine others pretending to have been raped to get out of a contract or simply to get attention to relaunch a 3-4 years stale career.  Ke$ha cannot work with Dr Luke and he cannot let set her free.

Dr Luke on the other hand is huge in production of pop music.  He produced Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, P!nk, Avril Lavigne and others.  He has worked with Britney, Juicy J, Jessie J, Ne-Yo, Pitbull, Rihanna, Flo Rida, Shakira and others.  Together with Max Martin and will.i.am. he is basically making 90% of the music you hear today.  Even the rappers of the bunch might not be comfortable with his new more rapey image, but imagine which parent would send their daughter to be managed by Dr Luke after him getting his reputation tarnished by the case.  Even if he is acquitted, there will always be the nagging doubt.  Fans and starts are already turning from him and it will only get worse if the case drags on.

Ke$ha is getting a lot of support from stars and fans all over the world.  She posted a thank you note on Instagram, which is frankly sad as all hell, and recorded a 27 second song fragment for Twitter.  Major stars like Adele, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift support her, each in their own way: Adele by dedicating her Brit award to Ke$ha, Lady Gaga along with Lily Allen, Lorde, Kelly Clarkson and others on Twitter, and Tay-Tay by donating a quarter mill to help with legal fees.

The best would be some sort of conditional injunction, so Ke$ha without being involved with Dr Luke at all, directly or indirectly.  At the same time, Dr Luke should be kept out of the spot-light to not prematurely kill his career entirely.  As it stands, Sony says it cannot release her.

As it stands, bot Ke$ha and Dr Luke are hurting from the status quo and we know that at least one of them is innocent.  So, in conclusion, rape is probably not a good thing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.