CULTURE

Adele, Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway Join List of Celebrities Supporting Kesha

5:44 PM PST 2/24/2016 by THR Staff

Kesha at court appearance Feb. 19

Lena Dunham and Reese Witherspoon have also supported the #FreeKesha movement, which began after a judge denied the pop star's request to get out of her contract with music producer Dr. Luke.

#FreeKesha has made its rounds online this week after a judge denied Kesha Rose Sebert's request to leave her contract with music producer Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald), whom the pop star claims sexually and emotionally abused her. 

Since then, Taylor Swift announced that she will donate $250,000 to her cause, and many celebrities and musicians — as well as fans — have pledged their support. Lena Dunham published an essay in her newsletter Lenny, in which she asks, "What man, what company endeavors to keep a woman saddled with someone who she says has caused her years of trauma, shame and fear?"

Producers including Jack Antonoff and Zedd have offered to work with Kesha to create music away from Dr. Luke, and fellow artists Adele, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Demi Lovato, Janelle Monáe and Iggy Azalea have tweeted out their support. 

A fan also launched a GoFundMe campaign called "Free Kesha" to buy out her contract and free the singer from her producer, which spread the hashtag around social media this week. The campaign says it seeks to raise $2 million; as of Wednesday afternoon, it had reached $20,200.

Kesha took to social media to thank her fans on Wednesday, saying in a Facebook post, "I'm so, so beyond humbled and thankful for all of the support I've received from everyone."

She continued, "All I ever wanted was to be able to make music without being afraid, scared or abused. This case has never been about a renegotiation of my record contract — it was never about getting a bigger, or a better deal. This is about being free from my abuser."

I'm so, so beyond humbled and thankful for all of the support I've received from everyone. Words cannot really express...

Posted by Kesha on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Dr. Luke took to twitter on Monday to defend himself from allegations that he sexually assaulted the pop star, saying, "I didn’t rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her."

Here is an updated round-up of celebrities publicly supporting Kesha:
 

On Wednesday night, Adele took a moment out of her Brit Awards acceptance speech to share her support, thanking her management and record label "for embracing the fact that I'm a woman and being encouraged by it," before adding, "And I'd also like to take this moment to publicly support Kesha," she said to applause from the audience. 

Lady Gaga added her support on Wednesday with a photo with the singer. 

On Tuesday, Anne Hathaway shared Dunham's Lenny letter post on her Facebook account, accompanied with a note that began with, "I stand with Kesha."
 

I stand with Kesha. If you are unfamiliar with the case, Lena Dunham does a brilliant job in this week's Lenny...

Posted by Anne Hathaway on Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Reese Witherspoon also shared the Lenny letter post.

Bleachers' Jack Antonoff offered his own producing services via Twitter on Monday:

And several more performers took to Twitter to share their support for Kesha: