In the past month, Kesha has been courting public opinion rather successfully. She lost the right to break her contract with Dr. Luke back in February, and what followed was a widespread outpouring of support for Kesha and her situation. The court of public opinion has deemed Dr. Luke to be a user, a douchebag and worse. Prominent women in music like Kelly Clarkson, Adele, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande have come out to publicly lend their names to #FreeKesha. And while there are rumors that Sony wants to dump Dr. Luke, it hasn’t happened yet. Legally, Kesha is still in the same terrible situation she was in a month ago. So her lawyers filed an appeal, and they maybe (?) went a bit too hyperbolic with their statement.

Kesha is not about to let this Dr. Luke legal battle come and go without a fight. The singer and her lawyers appealed a judge’s decision last month to keep her in her recording contract with the Sony music producer, real name Lukasz Gottwald, arguing that the ruling denying Kesha’s request for an injunction on her recording contract to release music outside of the producer’s authority is in the likes of “slavery.”

According to Kesha’s appeal, which was obtained by E! News, the singer’s legal team stated, “First, the Court erred in basing its decision on its finding that Kesha could record without interference from Gottwald. Although it recognized that “slavery was done away with a long time ago” and that ‘[y]ou can’t force someone to work…in a situation in which they don’t want to work,’ the Court’s ruling requiring Kesha to work for Gottwald’s companies, purportedly without his involvement, does just that. As the Court itself recognized, ‘[i]t’s slavery. You can’t do that.'”

The singer’s camp also disputed the judge’s opinion that no irreparable harm had been done to Kesha’s career, explaining that “affidavits by individuals with over 100 years of collective personal experience in the music industry” have proven that “a young pop star’s fame will fade quickly, and permanently, due to a loss of momentum. Indeed, New York courts have found irreparable harm to the careers of young musicians like Kesha where those careers are fleeting and in danger of destruction if not timely pursued.”

Dr. Luke’s spokesperson has released the following statement to E! News in regards to the appeal: “The Court repeatedly stated Kesha was already free to record without Dr. Luke, and that she had not presented any facts supporting her claims. That’s because all the evidence—including Kesha’s own sworn testimony—show her allegations are false. Her attorneys can continue manufacturing even more false and outrageous claims, but the fact remains that her time would be better spent in a studio than wasting time having her lawyer and mother spin lies in the media.”

[From E! News]

I genuinely and truly believe that the New York court’s February judgement was wrong. I believe that Kesha’s contract with Dr. Luke should be broken, and I believe the fact that he’s fighting it so hard, and the fact that he won’t simply let Kesha go is further proof of his twisted feeling of “ownership” over Kesha and her career. Now all that being said… we don’t need to start throwing around “slavery” as an explanation for this situation. That kind of hyperbole – or is it a legal argument? – should be put to one side. Kesha is not being forced into lifelong, unpaid servitude. She is not in chains. Her body is not being legally treated as property. She is in a horrible legal situation with a man she claims abused her. It’s an awful, tragic situation but it’s not slavery.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.