Lady Gaga in heated debate with Dr Luke's lawyer over Kesha rape claims

'That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of it right now. And you are all a party to it'

Lady Gaga launched a blistering criticism of producer Dr Luke‘s lawyer after it was suggested that Kesha had made a false accusation of rape against him.

As part of Kesha’s ongoing legal battle with Lukasz “Dr Luke” Gottwald, Lady Gaga’s full deposition was unsealed in court on 29 January, according to The Blast.

Gaga was subpoenaed and deposed due to a text message conversation between her and Kesha where Kesha confided to her that Gottwald had raped her.

Kesha also alleged to Gaga that a record label executive informed her that Gottwald raped Katy Perry, which both Perry and Gottwald later denied. The text message exchange was subpoenaed as part of Gottwald’s defamation lawsuit against Kesha.

During questions from Gottwald’s legal team, Gaga repeatedly defended Kesha and at one point became emotional due to “PTSD reactions” as a survivor of sexual assault herself.

Discussing how she first met Kesha at Gottwald’s home studio, Gaga said she saw the singer in a back room wearing only underwear.

“What I recall was her immense sadness and depression and fear,” she said. “She was visibly very different than when I had seen her before, but I can’t say specifically what we spoke about. I just recall it was emotional and I wanted to be there for her.”

Gottwald’s lawyer asked Gaga to confirm that she has “no personal knowledge or information” about Gottwald’s physical relationship with Kesha.

Gaga responded: “Yes, I do have knowledge.” Asked to clarify, she said: “She [Kesha] told me that he assaulted her.” Asked for further facts to support that statement, she said: “Well, you know, when men assault women, they don’t invite people over to watch.”

She continued: “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 in right now.”

When Gottwald’s lawyer pressed Gaga for “any factual information” about what happened, Gaga said: “Oh, I have factual knowledge of her depression. I have factual knowledge of her need for support and love. 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 it right now. And you are all a party to it.”

Kesha performs at the Grammys in 2018 (Getty Images for NARAS)

Gottwald’s lawyer asked, “You weren’t there, correct?” to which Gaga responded: “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.”

On 30 January, Gottwald’s lawyer and his legal team released a statement that said: “Being passionate about a topic that concerns us all is admirable. However, Lady Gaga has no knowledge of what happened on the night at issue because she was not there. The actual evidence shows, among other things:

“Kesha got kicked out of a party after drinking too much and vomiting. As an act of kindness, Dr Luke offered to allow her to sleep in his hotel suite, a few blocks away. Kesha slept on the bed in the hotel suite, while Dr Luke slept separately on the couch.

“Dr Luke testified under oath that he did not have any contact with Kesha. Kesha herself admitted under oath that she has absolutely no memory of Dr Luke even being in the hotel room. Kesha has no memory of Dr Luke engaging in inappropriate contact with her because it did not happen.”