Singer Kelly Clarkson described music producer Dr. Luke as a liar and “not a good person,” whom she had been “literally blackmailed” into working with.
Addressing singer Kesha’s highly public accusations that Dr. Luke, born Lukasz Gottwald, had sexually and emotionally abused her — allegations the producer has denied — Clarkson said Monday she knew of “a lot of artists that have worked with him that don’t work with him anymore, for pretty good, solid reasons. He’s not a good person, to me.” Clarkson, 33, made the remarks on Australia’s “Kyle & Jackie O” radio show.
“We’ve clashed . . . but I can’t really say anything other than that. Her fans are like, ‘Oh, why don’t you stand up for her?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I wasn’t there.’ ” While saying she did not know “specifically what happened in their situation . . . I can remark on his character. Unfortunately when you [are] that poor of character [that] so many artists don’t like you, don’t like working with you, that’s not normal.”
She claimed Dr. Luke “just lied a lot. . . . Musically, it’s been really hard for me because he will just lie to people . . . and it makes the artist look bad.” Calling the producer “difficult to work with, kind of demeaning,” Clarkson acknowledged that, “Obviously the dude is a talented guy. But character-wise? Oh, no, yeah, no. . . . Even the last time I worked with him, I only worked with him because literally I got blackmailed by my [record] label. They were like, ‘We will not put your album out if you don’t do this.’ I was like, ‘Okayyyy . . . ’ ” On what appears to be their final collaboration, Dr. Luke produced and co-wrote the single “My Life Would Suck Without You” on her 2009 album “All I Ever Wanted.”
Clarkson, whose seventh album, “Piece by Piece,” was just released, said Kesha’s “situation is very different from mine, apparently. He never did anything like that with me. . . . But if it’s true, then I can’t imagine working with somebody that had done something like that . . . especially [to someone] at a young age. She was really young when she started working with him.”
Dr. Luke’s manager did not respond to a Newsday request for comment.
