Singer Kesha cried after a State Supreme Court in New York City denied her a release her from a Sony contract, which means she must continue to work for the same company as her alleged rapist, the producer Dr Luke.
The judge, Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich, told Kesha that Sony would suffer ‘irreparable harm’ if she did not uphold her contract to make six more albums with them.
According to TMZ, the judge said she could always work with another producer at the label. However, Kesha alleges that Sony will not promote her music if she refuses to work with Dr Luke.
The site added that Kesha had ‘sought an injunction allowing her to make an album outside of Sony’ and asked the judge to issue a preliminary injunction to bar the company from forcing her to work with Dr Luke.
According to the New York Daily News, the judge said doing so would undermine the state’s laws governing contracts and that they had offered to let her work with a different producer.
Her attorneys stated that they are now concerned Sony will ‘blackball’ her if she refuses to work with Luke.
Dr Luke was not in the courtroom and no decision on the abuse claims in her lawsuit has been made, TMZ also reported.
The Tik Tok singer, 28, filed a sexual assault civil suit against the producer in Los Angeles last October alleging he had drugged her with a ‘sober pill’ and sexually assaulted her shortly after her 18th birthday in California and threatened to take away her publishing rights.