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#FreeKesha resurfaces on social media after Kim Petras drops 'Slut Pop' produced by Dr. Luke

Using the hashtag #FreeKesha, supporters and fans talked about Kesha's struggles with producer Dr. Luke and slammed Kim Petras for working with him

The hashtag #FreeKesha resurged on social media after pop singer Kim Petras released a record titled 'Slut Pop' that was produced by Dr. Luke aka Lukasz Gottwald, a prolific producer, and songwriter who was accused of rape and abuse by Kesha. Thousands of tweets flooded Twitter on February 11 as Kesha's fans criticized Petras for continuing to work with Dr. Luke despite the allegations. Using the hashtag #FreeKesha, supporters and fans raised awareness of Kesha's struggles with producer Dr. Luke. 

Dr. Luke and Kesha have been embroiled in a series of lawsuits since 2014, and while Kesha’s sexual abuse claims were dismissed by a judge in 2016, the singer continued to have widespread public support. Sony ended its partnership with Dr. Luke in 2017 and 2020, a judge found Kesha to be guilty of making "a false statement to Lady Gaga about Gottwald and that was defamatory".

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The court was referring to the texts Kesha sent to Lady Gaga where she claimed Gottwald had raped singer Katy Perry. However, Perry denied the claim under oath and the judge said that there was no supportive evidence to back Kesha's claim. The 2020 ruling also found that Kesha was in breach of her contract with KMI ( Dr. Luke's record label) and has thus ordered her to pay a "pre-judgment interest of $373,671.88."

One Twitter user wrote, "Kesha came forward about her sexual assault in 2014 - now 8 years later her abuser is suing her for defamation and gaining traction for producing an EP called Slut Pop (of all things) for kim petras… like there is so many things wrong here #FreeKesha."

Another user tweeted, "You guys fail Kesha every time you let a Dr. L*ke song blow up or hype up artist like Kim Petras, Saweetie, & Latto who all WILLINGLY work with him. You guys don't care about S.A. victims or Kesha, You only do when it's trendy to or makes you look good. Disgusting."

"I feel like we need to trend #FreeKesha again! We need to get Kesha the same exposure we got Britney! The fact this has been an ongoing issues for YEARS speaks volumes to how we as a society let Kesha down," added a third, while another user wrote, "WE DID IT WITH BRITNEY, WE CAN DO IT WITH KESHA TOO!"

Meanwhile, a Twitter user summed up Kesha's struggles with the caption, "For anyone questioning the extent of Dr. Luke’s control over Kesha." The user wrote that "Kesha is unable to perform features on anyone else's records, create any live recordings, put an acoustic cover on YouTube without Dr. Luke's explicit permission because she is still signed to Gottwald's publishing company."

Unlike Kelly Clarkson and Lady Gaga, who publicly broke off their working relationships with Dr. Luke, German pop star Kim Petras doesn’t appear to believe Kesha’s accusations. When asked about Dr. Luke in a 2018 NME interview, she said, "I wouldn’t work with somebody I believe to be an abuser of women." She later responded to backlash stemming from this comment, saying although she had a positive experience with the producer, she didn’t intend to "dismiss the experiences of others or suggest that multiple perspectives cannot exist at once."