Updated at 21:19 (ET): A representative of Luke Gottwald has denied reports that Sony will be severing ties with him. We have updated this piece accordingly.
Kesha may finally soon be free.
Insiders at Sony told The Wrap today that the company will soon be severing ties with “Dr” Luke Gottwald, the superstar producer whom Kesha alleges physically and sexually abused her as a teenager. The singer has been embroiled in a long, and until now losing battle to free herself from a six-album contract that would, she claims, force her to work intimately with the man she says raped her. (Gottwald has denied all of the allegations and his representative has denied reports that Sony is planning to drop him.)
But don’t go handing Sony any cookies for compassion or humanity. Citizens United notwithstanding, corporations don’t have hearts. The law is on the company’s side: after a recent court ruling went against Kesha, Sony would be well within their rights to keep the singer captive for the next 6 albums.
So what’s changed? We have. The insiders who ratted out Sony today said as much, essentially telling The Wrap that it’s now more expensive and damaging for the firm to protect Dr Luke than it is for them to protect Kesha. With stars like Adele and Lady Gaga speaking against the label, and boycott talk bubbling hot among fans, the suits in suites seem to have decided they literally can’t afford to keep standing by the accused at the expense of the woman who claims he abused her.
Whatever the reason, it’s fantastic news. I don’t care much what the Sony bosses believe in their hearts as long as they know that they answer to feminists, and that we are legion. That’s new. It was only a few years ago that stars like Gaga and Taylor Swift rejected the word for fear of backlash, but instant access to fans via social media, coupled with the dogged work of feminist organizers and the leadership of stars like Beyonce and Lena Dunham, who embraced feminism as an integral part of their brand, has changed the game.
It’s new for me to admit that, too. Nearly every time a rape case is in the news, for example, reporters ask me if I think things are changing for the better, if whatever the case is represents a sea change for our tolerance of rape culture. Until now, I’ve sidestepped the question, saying that only time will tell if the seriousness with which the Holtzclaw or the Steubenville case was taken means that we’re moving in the right direction, or just a statistical accident in what’s generally still a wasteland of rape apology.
But it does seem like things are starting to change. Last month, the Oscars telecast featured Gaga performing her nominated song, Til It Happens To You, through which she came out about her own experience with rape. She was joined onstage by over 50 young survivor-activists whose work is motivating the White House to crack down on campuses that turn a blind eye to sexual violence. Across Hollywood, female stars and star-makers are organizing in unprecedented ways to break the stranglehold white men have forever held on whose stories get funded and told. Victories like these teach us that there are no forces too strong or entrenched to be moved if enough of us join together to push in the same direction. And that kind of lesson ensures that the next time something like this comes up, we’ll come out swinging for the fences even harder.
It’s not yet clear how and when Sony will break with Dr Luke, nor do we know if that will really free Kesha from working with him. Kesha’s contract is technically with Gottwald’s label, Kemosabe, so there’s some question as to whether she’ll still be bound to him whether or not he’s at Sony. There’s a long way to go for Kesha, and there’s a long way to go for us all. But social change is all about stringing together partial wins, and I’m celebrating this one to the fullest. We all should.