Kesha's lawyers have filed an appeal after a judge denied the singer's motion to release her from her contract with Sony.
According to documents obtained by The Huffington Post, Kesha's legal team describes New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich's decision to keep the singer tied to the same company as her alleged abuser Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, as "slavery."
"First, the Court erred in basing its decision on its finding that Kesha could record without interference from Gottwald," Kesha's team argued in the statement, filed on Saturday. "Although it recognized that 'slavery was done away with a long time ago' and that '[y]ou can't force someone to work ... in a situation in which they don't want to work,' the Court's ruling requiring Kesha to work for Gottwald's companies, purportedly without his involvement, does just that. As the Court itself recognized, '[i]t's slavery. You can't do that.'"
Kesha has been embroiled in a legal battle with Gottwald since 2014, when she filed a lawsuit alleging that the producer sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally abused her for 10 years. Kesha later amended her complaint to include Sony -- the parent company behind Gottwald's Kemosabe Records -- claiming the company turned a blind eye to Gottwald's conduct and put her and other female artists in "physical danger."
Gottwald's attorney, Christine Lepera, responded to the appeal, writing in a statement to The Huffington Post, "The Court repeatedly stated Kesha was already free to record without Dr. Luke, and that she had not presented any facts supporting her claims. That's because all the evidence -- including Kesha’s own sworn testimony -- show her allegations are false. Her attorneys can continue manufacturing even more false and outrageous claims, but the fact remains that her time would be better spent in a studio than wasting time having her lawyer and mother spin lies in the media."
The Huffington Post has reached out to Dr. Luke and Kesha's representatives as well as their legal teams and will update this post accordingly.
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