#YEAR11PROBLEMS

Free Kesha

After her breaking down in court on Friday and a tidal wave of social media support for her, it was clear that my column this week had to be on Kesha.

For those of you who haven’t heard about Kesha’s court case, the Tik Tok singer went to the Supreme Court to get out of her contract with music giant Sony after claims that producer Dr Luke raped her and emotionally abused her, causing her to develop an eating disorder and check into rehab. However, the producer’s counter lawsuit said that Kesha has fabricated the allegations in order to get out of the contract that obliges her to make six more albums.

While the claims against Dr Luke are just that: claims, the Judge’s ruling to not give Kesha the injunction she wanted has sparked outrage on Twitter with the hashtags ‘#SonySupportsRape’ and ‘#FreeKesha’ trending worldwide.

Despite Kesha’s case being built on claims, they have not been taken seriously at all – both by Sony and the Manhattan Supreme Court, as the Judge said: “My instinct is to do the commercially reasonable thing.” That’s right – the “commercially reasonable thing”. What about the morally right thing? Or just the reasonable thing to do: take Kesha’s allegations seriously.

Another reason I am personally supporting Kesha is not only because her case is not being taken seriously in the industry or the eyes of the law, but the media too. As she now has to make six more albums with a producer who destroyed her life, it’s disgusting that the media has not made any effort to cover her story. A young woman who claims she has been raped is imprisoned in a contract that is no longer creative or expressive, but humiliating and demoralising.

And where are the (as Demi Lovato put it) “self-proclaimed feminists” like Taylor Swift and her ‘squad’ when Kesha needs them? If you really advocate women’s rights, then stand up and support Kesha. Feminism is a twenty-four-seven stance: not just for when it’s convenient for you.