Lena Dunham has stepped into the debate over Kesha’s ongoing struggles with producer Dr. Luke. The Girls creator posted a lengthy essay on her Lenny Letter website about the situation and explaining why she stands with the “Tik Tok” singer.
Kesha has filed a civil lawsuit against Dr. Luke, claiming that he raped and drugged her in 2006, when she was 18, and the abuse continued for years. She filed for a preliminary injunction to allow her to record outside of her contracts with Dr. Luke and Sony Records, but the judge declined her motion, leaving Kesha stuck. Several members of the music community have voiced support for Kesha, including Jack Antonoff, who offered to record music with the singer and then “leak” it online.
Dunham begins her essay by writing that, after she heard about the court’s decision against Kesha’s favor, “I felt sick.” She recapped the situation, then insisted that this is about much more than a pop star trying to get free from a contract.
“To be clear, Kesha's case is about more than a pop star fighting for her freedom, or a $60 million investment in a shiny commercial career,” Dunham wrote. “It's about more than whether Kesha can strap on her cool leotards and make another album, free from a man who she says terrifies her. It's even about more than the systemic misogyny of the entertainment industry, or the way that women in music and film have long been controlled and coerced by abusive Svengalis and entities larger than themselves.”
She continued, “What's happening to Kesha highlights the way that the American legal system continues to hurt women by failing to protect them from the men they identify as their abusers.”
Dunham praised the outpouring of support Kesha has received, noting that it shows how women are not afraid of fighting for what they have worked so hard for.
“We are not scared anymore of losing what we worked for, of being branded hysterical or difficult, of being targeted and silenced by men in power,” Dunham wrote. “The women in the music industry speaking out for Kesha are proof. And their words will reverberate, inspiring the young women watching them for clues about the good life to speak up too. Soon, no one will accept shame and fear as the status quo. And so, while Kesha is indefinitely silenced, her voice has never been louder.”
You can read Dunham’s entire letter here.
Dr. Luke has denied Kesha’s claims and his lawyer says that she could record with other producers.