Entertainment

Lady Gaga Supports Kesha In The Most Heartfelt Way

by Jordana Lipsitz

After a New York Supreme Court judge ruled against Kesha's request to end her contract with the man she accused in October 2014 of raping her when she was 18 years old, Sony producer Dr. Luke (real name, Lukasz Gottwald), Lady Gaga was one of the first celebrities to extend love and support in the "Tik Tok" singer's direction. But Gaga is not just tweeting supportive words to the singer — she's been apparently spending time with Kesha to show her solidarity and support. As depicted in a tweet and a Snapchat posted Wednesday, Lady Gaga is supporting Kesha by simply being there for her as a friend.

With her tweet, it is clear Lady Gaga is offering one of the best types of support — emotional support — by posting the image of her holding hands with the star and leaning into her with a cozy looking side-hug. It's not clear how recent the photo is — but it's still a sweet image that is clearly being shared to offer comfort and support. The image is captioned "Free Kesha," which refers to the growing movement made up of fans and celebrities who are calling for Kesha to be released from her contract with Gottwald.

Meanwhile, the Snapchat — which was posted on Twitter by a fan — shows Gaga placing a sloppy smooch on Kesha's cheek that would make any Grandma proud:

Update: Lady Gaga shared a message on Instagram in which she came even more stongly out in support of Kesha.

Gaga joins a ton of celebrities who have extended well wishes and words of support to Kesha following the court's decision on Friday to block Kesha from breaking her contract with Sony. Adele, Anne Hathaway, Reese Witherspoon, Taylor Swift, Lena Dunham, Jack Antonoff, and Fiona Apple have all spoken out in defense of the singer, and the list seems to be growing by the day.

Kesha herself has spoken out about the support she's received from celebs and fans alike. On Wednesday, the singer released a statement on her personal Facebook page:

I'm so, so beyond humbled and thankful for all of the support I've received from everyone. Words cannot really express the emotions I've gone through reading and seeing how amazing everyone has been to me. I can’t believe that so many people all over the world took the time to show me support and love. Other entertainers who knowingly put their own careers at stake by supporting me, I will be forever grateful.

You can read the entire thing here.

The court's decision follows a lawsuit Kesha filed against Gottwald in October 2014, accusing him of verbal and sexual abuse during the time the two worked together. Kesha's lawyer, Mark Geragos, released a statement to Billboard in 2014 about the allegations:

This lawsuit is a wholehearted effort by Kesha to regain control of her music career and her personal freedom after suffering for ten years as a victim of mental manipulation, emotional abuse and sexual assault at the hands of Dr. Luke. The facts presented in our lawsuit paint a picture of a man who is controlling and willing to commit horrible acts of abuse in an attempt to intimidate an impressionable, talented, young female artist into submission for his personal gain. Kesha is focused on moving her life and her career beyond this terrible time.

Gottwald countersued Kesha and her mother for defamation in October 2014, and denied the singer's claims both on his Twitter and in his complaint: "As part of the effort to get out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement, Kesha and Pebe have also orchestrated a campaign of publishing false and shocking accusations against Gottwald to extort Plaintiffs into letting Kesha out of the Gottwald Recording Agreement."

Following the court's ruling, Gottwald's attorney Christine Lepera released a statement to Rolling Stone commending the judge for her decision:

The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already "free" to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t "free" is a myth. The sound decision Friday by the Court in denying Kesha's motion for an injunction made it clear Kesha's allegations of purported abuse were unconvincing and that she had no basis to void record contracts and copyrights… The goal of Kesha's counsel throughout has been to obtain a more lucrative contract through a shameless campaign of outrageous claims they will never stand behind in a court of law.

As Dr. Luke has said repeatedly, the allegations against him are outright lies that have been advanced to extort a contract renegotiation and money. Kesha and her counsel have cavalierly subjected Dr. Luke and his family to trial by Twitter, using a vicious smear campaign to ruin his reputation for financial gain while failing to support their claims… It will further be shown that the incidents alleged never happened.

Kesha and Dr. Luke's team did not immediately respond to Bustle's request for comment regarding the situation.