The past few weeks have been filled with news about Kesha. Ever since a judge denied her injunction to leave her contract at Sony, fans and celebrities have been showing their support with the hashtag #FreeKesha. This comes after Kesha filed a lawsuit against her former producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) in 2014, alleging rape and sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. Gottwald repeatedly denied the claims and countersued. Yet amidst all of the legal ongoings, some positive news came on Saturday when Kesha accepted the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign for her work advocating on behalf of the LGBT community. During the event in Nashville, she gave a heartfelt speech and even had to step away from the microphone for a moment, because she became so emotional. She told the crowd,
For any of you who know, I'm going through some personal things that have been really intense and hard lately, and I just want to say thank you for any support I've received.
This isn't the first time Kesha has thanked her supporters — she previously sang a short song about how she doesn't know where she'd be without her fans. During the Human Rights Campaign event, Kesha made sure that the audience knew just how wonderful they were. Said the "Tik Tok" singer, "You are all beautiful just as you are," adding that as a little girl, her mother taught her to treat everyone equally. She said that she felt a "deep connection" to the LGBT community, because she could relate to being an outsider and was bullied for being herself. Stated the singer,
That's why my message has always been about being yourself, and we really have to love each other and support each other. Believe me, when I sing these words I'm talking to myself as much as I'm talking to everyone else.
The 29-year-old's words are inspiring. Bravo to her for preaching self-love, while also advocating for the LGBT community. You can watch the speech in the video below:
Following the event, she shared a photo on Instagram, thanking the Human Rights Campaign for the award and promising to keep fighting for equality. She wrote,
Tonight was incredibly special to be awarded for something I care so deeply about. I will fight for equal human rights till the day I die. Love always wins!
It's such an important message for Kesha to spread to her 1.4 million followers — and it's clear she takes this message to heart. Congrats to the singer on the well-deserved honor; it's likely that it wasn't easy to get up and face the public, but she did so with class.
As for Kesha's legal case, Dr. Luke's attorney released a statement to Rolling Stone following the court's ruling on Kesha's injunction, which reads in part:
The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already "free" to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t "free" is a myth ...
As Dr. Luke has said repeatedly, the allegations against him are outright lies that have been advanced to extort a contract renegotiation and money. Kesha and her counsel have cavalierly subjected Dr. Luke and his family to trial by Twitter, using a vicious smear campaign to ruin his reputation for financial gain while failing to support their claims… It will further be shown that the incidents alleged never happened.
Kesha's lawyer released the following statement to Billboard in October 2014 when she sued the producer:
This lawsuit is a wholehearted effort by Kesha to regain control of her music career and her personal freedom after suffering for ten years as a victim of mental manipulation, emotional abuse and sexual assault at the hands of Dr. Luke. The facts presented in our lawsuit paint a picture of a man who is controlling and willing to commit horrible acts of abuse in an attempt to intimidate an impressionable, talented, young female artist into submission for his personal gain. Kesha is focused on moving her life and her career beyond this terrible time.
As for Sony, an attorney for the company told the New York Times,
Sony has made it possible for Kesha to record without any connection, involvement or interaction with Luke whatsoever, but Sony is not in a position to terminate the contractual relationship between Luke and Kesha. Sony is doing everything it can to support the artist in these circumstances, but is legally unable to terminate the contract to which it is not a party.
