Poker face
Singer mum on Kesha ‘sex assault’ case
Gaga stonewalls Kesha case
What’s Lady Gaga got to hide? The “Poker Face” singer has been ducking deposition demands by producer Dr. Luke in his defamation case against singer Kesha, according to court papers.
Kesha, who accused Luke of sexually assaulting her, dished about the incident to Gaga via text messages in 2013, calling Luke a serial rapist.
Luke is suing Kesha, claiming she falsely accused him of drugging and raping her, and he wants Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, to turn over the texts.
But when Dr. Luke subpoenaed the messages from Germanotta earlier this year she replied with a “heavily redacted, four page spreadsheet of the text messages,” says Jeffrey Movit, a lawyer for the producer, in a new Manhattan Supreme Court filing.
“One of the four pages was redacted in its entirety,” Movit says.
Germanotta “has refused to remove the redactions, claiming that the redacted materials are irrelevant and address unspecified ‘private matters,’ ” he says.
Dr. Luke has been trying to get Germanotta to give a deposition since March. Her lawyer says she is unavailable “due [to her] demanding tour and filming schedule.”
Movit offered “to travel to the location of Ms. Germanotta’s tour and/or film shoot if necessary.”
“Despite this, Ms. Germanotta’s counsel continues to refuse to provide [him] with a date for her deposition and claims that Ms. Germanotta cannot appear for a deposition because she is commencing her world tour on Aug. 1, 2017,” Movit says.
“To accommodate these concerns,” Movitt said he would “limit the deposition to no more than three hours . . . and offered to take the deposition on any date during the weeks of August 7 and 28 in Los Angeles and New York . . . given that Ms. Germanotta apparently will be performing in those cities during those weeks.”
“Ms. Germanotta’s counsel nonetheless has not provided a deposition date,” Movit says.
He plans to ask a Manhattan judge on Aug. 8 to order Germanotta to sit for the deposition.
Gaga’s lack of cooperation forced the legal maneuvering, Movit said in a statement.
“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,” the lawyer said.
Gaga — who posted the above photo on Instagram with the caption “Free Kesha” in 2016 — isn’t essential to the case, her spokesman said, calling the singer “at most an ancillary witness.”
“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,” spokesman Sean Cassidy said.