Portions of famous singers' depositions in Dr. Luke and Kesha's ongoing legal battle were released on Aug. 27, including unsealed testimony from pop star Kelly Clarkson.
"In general, I don't know anyone that likes him. … People have said he is sleazy," Kelly said of producer Dr. Luke (real name: Lukasz Gottwald) in her depo, People magazine reports. "People have said he is belittling, the same kind of things that I say. He is very, I mean, just to be blunt, he can be kind of a bully and demeaning. I don't like him as a person." She also said she'd witnessed Luke being "dismissive and belittling" to others.
Billboard further reports that Kelly testified that she refused to take a songwriting credit on her 2009 single "My Life Would Suck Without You," which was co-written with Luke, because she had such a terrible time working with him (she said the same thing in 2017 in an interview with radio station Z100, Billboard added). "I just didn't take credit because I don't want my name near his," Kelly explained. "That's how much I dislike him."
While crafting the track in 2008 — which she said was the last time she encountered him — Kelly said she told Luke, "I don't like you" and "I don't want you in my life." In her deposition, Kelly said she'd never met Kesha and didn't have any independent knowledge of the pop star's lawsuits with Luke outside of what she'd read in the media.
Kelly also claimed in her deposition, Billboard reports, that she'd heard through her label that other musicians and singers including pop star Pink did not enjoy working with Luke despite his track record as a hitmaker. Kelly alleged that people at her label had told her, "We're having a hard time with him working with other people… actually, almost every female at our label doesn't like working with him."
A deposition from Katy Perry, which was heavily redacted, also drew widespread media attention when it was released on Monday. In Katy's testimony, which was given in July 2017, she denies that she was raped by frequent collaborator Dr. Luke, a claim Luke's team says Kesha circulated. Kesha's team, however, maintains that Kesha only discussed hearing the rumor that Luke assaulted Katy from a record label exec in a private text with Lady Gaga and that Luke is the one who made the allegation public.
Kesha and Dr. Luke have been fighting in court for nearly four years, first over her claims that he sexually assaulted, drugged and abused her a decade ago, which he's denied, as she sought to be released from their long-term contract. Luke also sued Kesha for defamation and lost earnings — he says her allegations made artists not want to work with him while Kesha maintains his reputation among female singers was already terrible — which is where Kelly's deposition, as well as testimony from Katy, Gaga, Maroon 5's Adam Levine and various music industry executives comes in.