Did Dr. Luke kill his own career by choosing to fight Kesha in court, instead of just quietly releasing her?

This isn't about whether he's guilty or innocent, but rather the perception of his guilt. I understand that if he believes himself to be innocent, he has every right to fight the claim, to not be "blackmailed", and to not potentially set a dangerous precedent in the process.

Yet and still, it seems naive considering society has a predisposition to believe the accuser in rape situations. So either way, he's gone from an obscure producer to "the man who raped a Pop-star". True or not, that's the perception. And the consequences are manifold:

- Established artists will be less likely to work with him, because of the stigma
- Label exec's are going to be less trusting of him with young female talent, especially non-established acts.
- He's become a liability. Another claim or lawsuit will be a financial and PR disaster for his label and parent label.

And the irony is that even if he's innocent, and even if he wins, that perception remains.

Now, despite the title, I'm not claiming his career is dead already, but it would be hard (imo) to ignore the ramifications of the court battle. So the question is, considering the hits he'll take, was it worth it to fight? If so, why?

No. He'll be fine. ATRL forgets he's a man and things like this have happened before.

Pretty much. Imagine had they just released her. No controversy, no backlash, and she could have went on making her music. In a way though, everyone is talking about it.

I meant to post this in Base.

Have they?

A huge pop-star calling out her producer rapist?

Probably. I hate this witch hunt against him though.

He's still gonna be producing for people. I'm sure Katy will never let him go as a main producer. Will he be working with as many high profile people as before? Probably not.

If he had just let her go though, yeah he wouldn't have lost so much female support in the industry.

Yes. Any major artist that work with him will be seen as trash, so i'm sure most will avoid it

Fifth Harmony...

He will be fine. Maybe a bit of backlash and less high-profile clients for a while. But he has a major label supporting him and his actions 100%. As long as he continues making hits, Sony will continue to pair him up with artists and push his records to the mainstream. If he was a producer-artist then he'd be over, but he works behind the scenes so...

I do agree he would've been better off if he had just let her go though. Poor him

He would've been smart to just let her go.

Not this public. Not to mention, it'll look bad for artists to work with him at this point. At least for the next few years.

But you're right, people will forget about this in time. Stans won't, but the GP will, unfortunately.

This.

The decision alone on Friday has caused a frenzy and brought a lot of attention to this horrible situation. Releasing her silently would be in his best interest because they could have potentially made an agreement to help both parties but to also avoid bad publicity. Not even just that, but Sony is now gaining some disadvantages in this mess.

Boycott, Artists reaching out + disowning him, donations. It's just a matter of time.

Yes.

Yes, totally.

if R kelly is still around considering he literally pissed on an underage girl then yes, dr. luke will be fine.

Automatic no. Releasing her and settling out of court would make him seem guilty.

But they should definitely settle out of court. Why would Sony and or Luke even want to work with Kesha after this mess?

Will they be supporting him behind the scenes though?

I find it hard to imagine that Sony Music Exec's wouldn't be concerned with Dr. Luke in the studio with fresh young talent, seeing as if anything goes down they will burn.

Yes

Impossible.

The whole point of releasing her (then) would have been to avoid anything going public, and with the release would have come a non-disclosure agreement for sure.

The public and fans would have not the slightest clue as to why she left, and would (honestly) probably assume she got dropped.