Lady Gaga Supports Kesha As She Compares Dr. Luke To Cartoon Villain
Lady Gaga took to her Twitter account to call out Dr. Luke for pulling Kesha’s scheduled performance from the Billboard Music Awards. Though E! News reported that Dr. Luke and his label, Kemosabe Records, have changed their minds and will allow Kesha to perform at the awards ceremony on Sunday, the reversal came after Dr. Luke had faced strong criticism from Kesha supporters like Lady Gaga.
Sharing an article about Dr. Luke’s refusal to let Kesha perform, Gaga referred to Dr. Luke as “Ursula,” a reference to the villainous sea witch who stole the mermaid’s voice in Disney’s 1989 animated hit The Little Mermaid.
Isn't it strange that it's legal to own a woman this way? Listen Ursula, we want her voice back. #freeKesha https://t.co/rifG9nWRWw
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) May 19, 2016
And in case Lady Gaga’s followers didn’t quite catch the Ursula comparison, Gaga then retweeted a side-by-side photo of the music producer and the cartoon witch.
This isn’t the first time Gaga has publicly supported Kesha since the pop star accused Dr. Luke of sexually assault and sued for her freedom from his record label. As USWeekly reports, Gaga has stood up for Kesha in the past. In February, Gaga posted a photo of the two singers together with the caption “Free Kesha.”
When the court denied Kesha’s request to record her music outside of her contract with Dr. Luke, Gaga tweeted out her strong feelings of support for the singer/songwriter.
There are people all over the world who love you @KeshaRose. And I can say truly I am in awe of your bravery.
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 19, 2016
According to Billboard, Gaga took notice when Kesha fans led a protest outside of Sony’s New York City headquarters — Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records is a subsidiary of Sony. Gaga posted footage from the protest to her Instagram and captioned the video with a pointed message aimed at Sony.
At this year’s Academy Awards Ceremony, People reports that Gaga was joined on stage by 50 survivors of sexual assault while giving an emotional performance of her song “Til It Happens To You.” Gaga’s song was inspired by the documentary The Hunting Ground, which delves into the campus rape epidemic at universities.
People further reports that Gaga shared a picture with the 50 women detailing how emotionally overwhelmed she was to perform with so many survivors.
I told [the survivors] I was so sorry I couldn’t be Lady Gaga for them, that I couldn’t even get dressed. I could barely get through the song, couldn’t hit any of the high notes. Hair wet, sloppy tee shirt jeans Uggs, tissues. They all hugged me and told me that it was okay because it was more real this way, that they understood that they were in pain too.
After the Academy Awards, Gaga visited 97.1 AMP Radio and spoke with Carson Daly about how her performance related to Kesha’s experience.
“I feel like she’s being very publicly shamed for something that happens in the music industry all the time, to women and men. I just want to stand by her side because I can’t watch another woman that went through what I’ve been through suffer.”
Gaga also told Daly that speaking out is about more than standing up for Kesha, as it also is about protecting future artists.
“The reason that I’m standing by her is because I want to help make it easier for young artists in this industry, for their music to get heard,” explained Gaga.
[Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]
