Lady Gaga Loses Oscar, Gains Support From Kesha

“Til It Happens To You” might well be the most emotional song of Lady Gaga’s stellar career, and it may also be one of the most influential. Lady Gaga penned the song with songwriter Diane Warren for the documentary The Hunting Ground, which explores rape culture on college campuses, and the song has also connected with Lady Gaga’s famous fellow songstress Kesha.

thank u @ladygaga and VP @JoeBiden for bringing attention to sexual assault at the oscars. it hit very close to my heart for obvious reasons

— kesha (@KeshaRose) February 29, 2016

Kesha has been struggling to break her contract with Sony in the wake of her accusations that she was sexually assaulted by record producer Dr. Luke, who has denied any wrongdoing. According to Hollywood Life, Lady Gaga’s performance was likely the most powerful of the night, and though she lost out to Sam Smith for “Writing on the Wall,” the theme from Spectre, it was Lady Gaga who likely won the most accolades for her heartfelt performance.

While Kesha has been clear in her accusations that she was sexually assaulted by Dr. Luke, Lady Gaga has denied that the record producer has done the same to her. Kesha’s attorney, Mark Geragos, intimated that the record producer who Lady Gaga said she was raped by years ago was Dr. Luke.

According to Perez Hilton, Lady Gaga said, “It’s absolutely not true… The Dr. Luke lawsuit is utterly incomprehensible. This simply isn’t true and how dare someone take advantage of such a sensitive matter.”

Dr. Luke echoed those comments in a similar statement through his representative.

“Luke met Lady GaGa twice for less than half an hour total in those two meetings combined,” the statement said. “He has never been alone with her and never touched her.”

Before she hit the Oscars stage, Lady Gaga tweeted her support for Kesha, whom she knew would potentially be struggling with the emotionally powerful performance.

.@kesharose I'll be thinking of u 2nite. This is not over we'll stand by u until you are free to live a HAPPY life. Everyone deserves that.

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 28, 2016

Kesha’s efforts to break free of her Sony contract seem to be continuing. Last week, the singer was denied her attempts at getting an injunction in order to discontinue working with Dr. Luke. The assertions appear to be that there are other producers who Kesha could be working with at Sony, and when the judgment came that Kesha’s injunction would not be granted, she burst into tears.

The problem is, Kesha’s contract is not technically with Sony but with a subsidiary of the company, which belongs to Dr. Luke. The New York Times reports that Scott A. Edelman, a lawyer for Sony, said in a statement that “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.”

Lady Gaga has been one of Kesha’s most vocal supporters since her situation with Dr. Luke became public knowledge. In fact, she dedicated her Oscars performance to the singer.

In the days following the judgment, Lady Gaga spoke out in support of her friend.

“That is the very reason women don’t speak up for years,” she said via Instagram. “What happened to Kesha has happened to many female artists including myself and it will affect her for the rest of her life.”

In addition to posting her support via social media, it would appear that Lady Gaga has also been spending time with Kesha in order to help her friend through this trying time. Lady Gaga may have lost the Oscar, but it would seem that her song “Til It Happens to You” and her support for her friend has earned her some of the biggest accolades of all.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]