It’s only been 3 days since the verdict that Kesha could not break her contract with Dr. Luke was announced, and it seems like a lot of people have already lost sight of what this is all about. Since the announcement Friday, a lot of coverage of the trial has shifted from Kesha’s legal battle to celebrity reactions.
Yesterday, it was reported that Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha to help with her financial needs. The donation was confirmed on Twitter when Kesha’s mom, Pebe Sebert, tweeted this:
Even this move of support by Swift isn’t the story making headlines anymore. What people are really talking about is Demi Lovato’s supposed “feud” with Taylor Swift that was apparently sparked by the donation.
Amongst all the celebrity tweets supporting Kesha, Lovato posted this:
After Swift fans expressed outrage over the tweet, Lovato returned to social media to respond. On an Instagram comment she wrote, “There’s no ‘rivalry.’ I just give more fucks than other people and would rather start a dialogue ABOUT WOMEN COMING FORWARD ABOUT BEING RAPED than throw money at one person.” So now, naturally, that’s what the story of Kesha’s lawsuit against her former producer Dr. Luke for sexual abuse has become. That’s pretty disturbing.
As a fan of celebrity gossip, I get the appeal of talking about a celeb rivarly, but when we let it overshadow actual news that a woman is stuck in a hostile work environment and isn’t being listened to about her experience with sexual abuse, that’s just simply not alright. What does it say about our culture that we so quickly forget what this story is really about? Is the subject of rape just nothing new, and thus it’s an easily-forgotten news story? Let’s turn our attention back to trial, where Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich ruled in favor of Dr. Luke, saying, “My instinct is to do the commercially reasonable thing.”
In spite of this disappointing ruling, the loss will be less devastating if we all make a real effort to remember what this trial was about and stop focusing soley on this supposed “girl fight.” Remember what Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said after the singer initally filed the lawsuit: “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.”
#FreeKesha
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