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Singer Katy Perry has denied she was raped by Dr. Luke, according to a deposition unsealed on Monday from the ongoing legal battle between Luke and Kesha.
In court documents obtained by people.com, Perry's deposition from July 21, 2017, reveals that the singer, 33, repeatedly shut down the allegation that was made public as part of his defamation suit against Kesha, who accused him of raping her.
The producer's legal team previously accused Kesha of circulating the rumour that he raped Perry.
"The false narrative Kesha created about being raped became widely accepted, damaging Dr. Luke's reputation irreparably. Compounding this malicious act, in 2016, Kesha told Lady Gaga that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry, which is outrageous and untrue," Dr. Luke's attorneys said in the statement on Monday.
"Katy Perry testified under oath in this case that Dr. Luke never raped her. Regardless, Kesha refused to apologize. Instead, she issued a press release which again irresponsibly suggested that Katy Perry was actually raped by Dr. Luke. It seems that Kesha wanted to perpetuate the falsehood that Dr. Luke raped Katy Perry," the statement said.
In her response, also issued on Monday, Kesha denied making such claims.
"With regard to Dr. Luke's claim that Kesha defamed him by falsely stating he also assaulted Katy Perry, Kesha has never claimed to have any independent knowledge of any alleged assault of Katy Perry (which Ms. Perry has denied in a later deposition)," Kesha's attorneys said.
"But, to be clear, Dr. Luke is suing Kesha based on a private, one-on-one text message that Kesha sent Lady Gaga in 2016, shortly after Interscope CEO John Janick told Kesha and Lady Gaga he'd heard a rumour that Dr. Luke had also abused Katy Perry. Mr. Janick's statement was discussed privately between the two friends and would never have become public, except that Dr. Luke decided to publish it to millions of people in his 2017 complaint against Kesha. This defamation claim, based on a private text message which was based on the statement of a third party, is also frivolous."
Meanwhile, Gaga confirmed Janick's conversation in her deposition.
"He said he had heard a rumour. … I don't recall exactly the way he said it. I just recall that it was brought up. … He said something like I heard (Dr. Luke) raped Katy (Perry), too," Gaga said.
