Fiona Apple slams Grammys hypocrisy for nominating Dr. Luke after Kesha’s sexual abuse allegations

Fiona Apple called out the Recording Academy for nominating Dr. Luke despite sexual abuse allegations waged against him by Kesha.

In an interview with The Guardian, Apple slammed the Grammys for Luke’s Record of the Year nomination with Doja Cat’s Say So while working under the pseudonym Tyson Trax. 

The producer — who’s full name is Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald — has repeatedly denied Kesha’s rape claims and sued the singer for defamation in 2014, a case which is still ongoing.  

While discussing Taylor Swift re-recording her master work, Fiona admitted she was happy to not have to be up against the artist for album of the year, but had a difficult time wrapping her head around the Grammy’s selection process.  

‘They had [Kesha] up there singing ‘Praying’ and now they’re gonna go: ‘Oh, but it’s Tyson Trax!’ Fiona said of the organization.

Say So was produced and co-written by Dr. Luke and is included on Doja Cat’s sophomore album Hot pink which was released last November on his Kemosabe Records. 

‘I keep going back to them putting Kesha on stage like, “We believe you” — and I believe her — then two years later, f***ing Tyson Trax … not to go back to that word, but it’s bulls**t,’ she said. 

In her lawsuit, Kesha, who started working with the producer when she was 17, accused Gottwald of sexual assault and emotional abuse and sued him for infliction of emotional distress, gender-based hate crimes and employment discrimination. 

He denied the allegations and claimed she smeared him with lies in hopes of getting out of her record contract.

A number of high-profile artists — including Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Adele and Kelly Clarkson — came out in support of Kesha. 

‘I don’t know if anybody who’s nominated can help having the thought: What would I do If I won?’ she added. ‘My vision was that I would just get up there with a sledgehammer and I wouldn’t say anything, I would take the Grammy and smash it into enough pieces to share and I would invite all the ladies up. 

‘My second thought was I wonder if I can get all these ladies to boycott this s**t because of Dr. Luke.’ 

Fiona also took pause with the Academy’s treatment of ousted president Deborah Dugan who alleged sexual harassment in a legal complaint of the Grammy’s nomination process.  

‘I’m waiting to hear more about what Deborah Dugan has to say because that all reeks to me,’ she said. ‘When you hire somebody and they raise questions and then they get fired? There’s a lot of things that she brought up that make it so that I can’t vet that situation and I don’t really wanna go there and support it.’