Where is Dr Luke now? Here's how disgusting trend falsely claiming pop producer's death went viral on Internet

The Internet is a scary place and a recent trend on Dr Luke is proof enough. Born as Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, the record producer's name popped up on Twitter and was linked to a fake screenshot that falsely announced his death. The chatter first began with tweets like, "IS IT TRUE????????? IS DR LUKE D**D????"

To put a rest to rumors, let's begin by saying that he is alive and well. Isn't it incredibly horrific to see such misinformation floating around on social media?

The singer-songwriter began his career as the lead guitarist for the house band of late-night television sketch comedy 'Saturday Night Live' and soon rose to prominence after collaborating with artistes like Bon Jovi and Gravediggaz. He also produced Kelly Clarkson's single 'Since U Been Gone' with Swedish record producer Max Martin. 

Recently, the 47-year-old was dragged into an unnecessary controversy. How did the disgusting word on the street even begin?

As we put our detective glasses on, it seemed to have surfaced from a fake Instagram screenshot of a handle that allegedly claimed to be his wife. "Omg Dr Luke died. His wife wrote that he died on IG. #DrLuke," one Twitter user wrote along with the screenshot.

While many speculated if something had actually happened to Dr Luke, one Twitter handle — that goes by the name of @DOJADlOR aka "anand | RT PINNED" — posted, "I FAKED A SCREENSHOT OF DR LUKE'S WIFE SAYING LUKE PASSED AWAY ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO AND ITS TRENDING WTFNJ BJHFREBUHHIFRIHJ." 

 

In fact, when it was trending a few months back, New York Magazine/HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali even tweeted on April 4, 2020: "Dr Luke is trending because there are rumors going around (based on an alleged Instagram post by his partner) that he has passed away. I've texted the cell phone belonging to Dr. Luke to check. Have also asked his attorney for comment." He later deleted the tweet. However, a screenshot of the tweet was shared again when the trend went viral. 

Many Twitter users came together to condemn the trend. Rachel Kiley, a Los Angeles-based writer for 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries', wrote, "Oof, twitter reallllllly disappointing with that dr. luke trending topic." Ira Madison III, host of the Crooked Media podcast 'Keep It!' and a writer on the Netflix series 'Daybreak', tweeted, "Not texting Dr. Luke 'hey are you dead?'" alongside a crying emoji. 

 

Confirming that the trend was baseless, People writer Tomás Mier said, "It’s fake!" and added, "Dr. Luke's manager just confirmed to me that Dr. Luke did not die and that some screenshot that's circulating on Twitter is fake. 'It is not true. Account was hacked.'" Moreover, he added, "A Doja Cat stan account is allegedly responsible for the doctored screenshot..."

Meanwhile, several others slammed Luke for a series of lawsuits and countersuits between the singer Kesha Rose Sebert and the music producer back in 2014 where she wanted to void her contract with him to work with other labels and publishing units. As per Rolling Stone, the lawsuit claimed that Dr Luke "sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused [Kesha] to the point where [she] nearly lost her life."

In March 2017, a judge refused to amend her original case saying that she entered the contract after the abusive behavior started and suggested Dr Luke's alleged abusive behavior would have been foreseeable at that time. Many musicians voiced their support for Kesha back then. 

By April 2017, Luke was no longer listed on the official Sony Music website and he was removed from the position of CEO of Kemosabe Records too. Luke then went on to adopt the pseudonym Made in China. He has then produced songs for artistes such as Trey Songz, Ne-Yo, and Big Boi. Recently, he began songwriting for German singer-songwriter Kim Petras and his name was linked to Doja Cat's hit 2019 album 'Hot Pink', including its record-breaking single 'Say So'.