Lady Gaga subpoenaed to testify in bitter legal fight between Dr. Luke and Kesha

Add Lady Gaga to the cast of the nasty legal drama between singer Kesha and record producer Dr. Luke.

Dr. Luke’s lawyers have subpoenaed Lady Gaga to testify, People reports.

Kesha and Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, have had an ongoing legal battle since Kesha alleged that Dr. Luke drugged, sexually assaulted and verbally demeaned her over the years. She is seeking to get out of her contract with his label so he cannot financially benefit from her work. He has filed a defamation lawsuit against her.

“In connection with Dr. Luke’s defamation claims against Kesha, various third parties are being deposed by both sides, including celebrities,” the mega-producer’s legal team said in a statement obtained by People.

“Dr. Luke’s counsel served a subpoena on Lady Gaga because she has relevant information regarding, among other things, false statements about Dr. Luke made to her by Kesha. This motion has become necessary because Dr. Luke’s counsel has not been able to obtain, despite repeated request, a deposition date from Lady Gaga.”

Dr. Luke filed documents demanding Gaga set a date for a live deposition of “no more than three hours,” TMZ reports. In the documents, Dr. Luke says Lady Gaga tried to offer a written statement instead.

Dr. Luke is seeking a text message conversation between Kesha and Lady Gaga. According to the documents, obtained by TMZ, the texts include Kesha saying she’d been abused by Dr. Luke, and imploring Lady Gaga to join a “smear campaign against (Dr. Luke).” Dr. Luke says that campaign included Lady Gaga urging Sony Music to cut ties with him, and promoting “Free Kesha” on social media.

Dr. Luke’s lawyers subpoenaed Lady Gaga to get a copy of the texts, but according to the documents, the copy they got was so heavily redacted it was incomprehensible.

On Saturday, Lady Gaga’s legal team released this statement to Variety and other media:

“As Lady Gaga‘s legal team will present to the court, she has provided all of the relevant information in her possession and is at most an ancillary witness in this process. Dr. Luke’s team is attempting to manipulate the truth and draw press attention to their case by exaggerating Lady Gaga’s role and falsely accusing her of dodging reasonable requests.”

Kesha recently released her first new music in four years. Her new album is called “Rainbow,” part of which was influenced by a close encounter with UFOs the singer says she experienced in in Joshua Tree.

“Rainbow” is due out Aug. 11 and features appearances by Dolly Parton, Eagles of Death Metal and the Dap-Kings.

This story was originally published July 30, 2017 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Lady Gaga subpoenaed to testify in bitter legal fight between Dr. Luke and Kesha."