Pop singer Kesha scored a legal victory Friday and was honored on Saturday in Hollywood.
The Grammy nominee and “Praying” hitmaker has been embroiled now for a couple of years in a tug of war with former producer Dr. Luke– whom she accused of rape, among other things– and Sony Music. But on Friday a court ruling in Dr. Luke’s ongoing defamation case against the singer ordered Sony Music to reveal to Kesha who they interviewed in their investigation of Dr. Luke. That’s a major step forward.
On Saturday night, Kesha was honored at the Humane Society’s gala event on the Paramount lot with the Voice for the Animals Award. With her boyfriend, Brad Ashenfelter, by her side, Kesha told me that, “I know I have a ton of support. My fans are amazing. I’m in a great place now.”
Kesha (real name Kesha Rose Sebert) wowed the crowd in a room filled with blue flowered walls, animal silhouettes, bales of hay and sunflowers. The A-listers included Carol Leifer, Priscilla Presley, Diane Warren, Bellamy Young, Harley Quinn Smith and Leona Lewis, who sang a beautiful version of “Imagine.”
Kesha explained her love of animals to the audience. “The first time I felt true unconditional love, I can’t say it was towards a family member because they can talk. It was when I left a place, it was a strip club. I walked outside and there was a tiny baby kitten in a garbage can. My instinct was that I just grabbed him and said, ‘I can’t leave you here.’ My drummer said, ‘don’t touch that, he’s a trash cat.’ And I was like, ‘you’re a trash person, we’re taking the cat.”
She then went on to explain of the cat she would later name Mr. Peeps, that “I took him home to the Sunset Marquis where I was staying, and he preceded to destroy about seven rooms, He’s officially banned from the Sunset Marquis. Steven Tyler is not banned from the Sunset Marquis, so he’s officially more rock star than Steven Tyler.”
Kesha was given the honor by Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, whose manager wife, Gloria, co-chaired the event.
Wallis Annenberg also was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and said of her love of animals, “I think it’s worth the cost of a lint brush a million times over to get all that joy, love and enlightment in return.”
HSUS CEO Kitty Block told me that with Trump in the White House animal rights have been under siege. “It’s been tough on a lot of issues, and we’ve been fighting a lot of rollbacks, specifically on wildlife. We’re a bi-partisan group; we need everyone to help animals. But I will say it’s bit more challenging under this administration.” Kitty wisely said to the audience that, “There’s power in what you buy and there’s power in what you consume, and I think if everybody’s just a little bit of an advocate, you can make great change.”
