Lady Gaga got into a heated verbal exchange with one of Dr. Luke’s lawyers while being deposed as part of the long legal battle between the producer and Kesha, according to court documents recently unsealed and reported by The Blast. At one point, Gaga tells Luke’s attorney that she “should be ashamed of yourself.”
The deposition, which took place in September 2017, began with Gaga’s attorney informing Luke’s lawyer that the singer was experiencing PTSD reactions from her own sexual assault before the hearing.
“I just want everyone to understand that, as she has publicly stated in other contexts, as a sex abuse survivor, and I know this from my own personal experience with family members, there are trigger events, and this deposition has proved to be a trigger event for Ms. Germanotta,” her lawyer said. “And she has experienced in the past few hours some PTSD reactions which is causing some trauma and emotional reactivity. So she is crying now, the record will reflect.”
Gaga told the court that she had first met Kesha at Luke’s home studio, where Kesha was in a back room wearing only underwear. She said Kesha told her about years of alleged abuse by Dr. Luke and hoped to console her. “What we discussed was, what I recall was her immense sadness and depression and fear,” Gaga said. “She was visibly very different than when I had seen her before, and – but I can’t say specifically what we spoke about. I just recall it was emotional and I wanted to be there for her.”
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Luke’s lawyer then asked Gaga whether she believes the accusations of rape have damaged the producer’s reputation.
“I don’t feel at liberty to speak for the entire world. So if you are asking what my view is of his reputation, I made my view of him and his reputation when I saw her in that back room. That was an image that – of something that happened to me, and I felt and knew in my heart that she was telling the truth, and I believe her.”
Luke’s lawyer then asked, “With respect to Mr. Gottwald himself, you have absolutely no personal knowledge or information as to any interaction between him and Ms. Sebert, correct, physical or otherwise?”
Gaga replied, “Yes, I do have knowledge. She told me he assaulted her.”
The lawyer asked if she any other evidence beyond Kesha’s comments. Gaga replied, “Well, you know – when men assault women, they don’t invite people over to watch. And when this happens in this industry, it is kept extremely secret, and it is compounded by contracts and manipulative power scenarios that actually include this very situation that we are all in right now.”
The lawyer continued, “But, again, there are people that are falsely accused of rape, aren’t there? You think there has never been a false accusation of rape?”
Gaga apparently begins to lose her temper: “You – how about all of the women that are accused of being liars and how she was slut shamed in front of the world, how about that?
“I have factual knowledge of her depression. I have factual knowledge of her need for support and love,” she replied. “I have factual knowledge of the spiral that I watched that girl go down. I have factual knowledge of trauma. I am informed and intelligent about this issue. That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of the right now. And you are all a party to it.”
After Gaga again claimed to know the truth about Dr. Luke’s treatment of Kesha, Gottwald’s lawyer asked, “You weren’t there, correct?” Gaga responded angrily, “Why on earth would this girl tell the entire world this happened? Why on earth? Do you know what it’s like for survivors? Do you know what it’s like to tell people? Don’t you roll your eyes at me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The legal battle between Kesha and Dr. Luke is ongoing.