Kesha Support Rally at Chicago's Loyola University
A few days ago, the judge ruled against pop singer Kesha (real name - Kesha Rose Sebert) in her long-running legal effort to get out of her contract with record producer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Sebastian Gottwald. Kesha alleged that Dr Luke abused her sexually and emotionally, which is what ultimately drove her into rehab for an eating disorder. Since the contract says that she has to record several more albums with his company. To try to make a legally complicated story simplish, while Kesha is signed with Dr. Luke's Kenosabe Records label, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music, a company owned by Dr. Luke is the legal entity Kesha actually has the contract with. Sony/Kenosabe are just leasing it.
Even if there was a way that Kesha could fulfill her contractual obligations without having to interact with Dr. Luke directly, she is still under the contract with the company owned by the man who (allegedly) raped and abused her. Saying that this is very uncomfortable situation is a bloody understatement.
Kesha was scheduled to perform at Chicago's Loyola University last Friday. As the word of the verdict came down, a group of students decided to organize a rally to support her. Kesha cancelled the performance "for personal reasons," but the the organizers decided to hold the rally anyway.
The concert was supposed to take place on Loyola's Lakefront/Rogers Park campus, which is within walking distance of my building. I figured I would, at the very least, stop by and see what happened.
The rally was supposed to start at 5:45 PM. At that point, I still had some work to finish, and I figured that, since the rally was supposed to go on until 8:00 PM, I would still have time. At around 6:15 PM, I headed out.
As I walked through the campus, I saw a group of people in front of a building up head. Two girls - probably students - walked past me.
"Let's be casual, and just see what's going on," said one.
"Wait," the other girls peered ahead, "Is that the Kesha rally?"
"That's just pathetic," remarked the first girl.
I wouldn't have described it quite that harshly, but there was no question that what I saw was a bit of letdown. The Chicagoist reporter on the scene estimated that 35 people attended the rally, which seems about right (give or take a few people)
They spread out in the semi-circle
With different people taking turns addressing the crowds
Some talked about their experience of struggling with shame and guilt after being raped. Some talked about friends who were raped but didn't feel comfortable sharing it even with people they otherwise trusted the most.
Some expressed solidarity and spoke out against a society where, too often, is all too willing to give benefit of the doubt to rapists and question the motives of the victims, whether the victims said or did anything to somehow bring it on themselves.
A woman who said she was an attorney from Oak Park was walking around, passing out stickers like this.
Like I said, the rally was supposed to go on until 8:00 PM. But by around 6:45 PM, the outdoor portion of the rally, at least, was over. People were invited to go inside to decompress and regain their emotional equilibrium in a nice, calm setting.
I hung around a bit as the organizers got interviewed by the media. I was curious to see who showed up. Student media outlets from DePaul University and Columbia College were there, as was the Chicagoist reporter who wrote the story I linked to further up. It was entirely possible that a few other reporters stopped by earlier, before I got there, but they didn't stick around.
Because a random person just hanging around as other people got interviewed would be weird, I made my way toward the space where most of the other people went. It turned out to be a classroom-sized space with some pretty damn comfy chairs.
A singing duo who introduced themselves as the Mixtape played some songs.
And they were pretty good.
Then, another musician did some Kesha covers, and she was... pretty bad. I mean, I think she might be a decent singer, but most Kesha songs don't really fit with the acoustic guitar thing she was doing, and she couldn't overcome that.
The organizers mentioned that they had the space until 9:00 PM, but things pretty much petered out by 7:30 PM. A few people hung around longer, but most left.
On one hand, I don't want to be as harsh on the rally as the two girls were. It was an important gesture, one that should have been made, no matter how many people showed up. But it's hard not to be disappointing. The official event Facebook listing lists 956 people as "interested," but a mere fraction of them were actually there.
I can't help but wonder if there would've been more people if Kesha actually showed up.
You could blame the cold - but the temperatures were low during the Black Lives Matter protest, and the CTU rally and more people showed up.
It's a sobering thought.
Even if there was a way that Kesha could fulfill her contractual obligations without having to interact with Dr. Luke directly, she is still under the contract with the company owned by the man who (allegedly) raped and abused her. Saying that this is very uncomfortable situation is a bloody understatement.
Kesha was scheduled to perform at Chicago's Loyola University last Friday. As the word of the verdict came down, a group of students decided to organize a rally to support her. Kesha cancelled the performance "for personal reasons," but the the organizers decided to hold the rally anyway.
The concert was supposed to take place on Loyola's Lakefront/Rogers Park campus, which is within walking distance of my building. I figured I would, at the very least, stop by and see what happened.
The rally was supposed to start at 5:45 PM. At that point, I still had some work to finish, and I figured that, since the rally was supposed to go on until 8:00 PM, I would still have time. At around 6:15 PM, I headed out.
As I walked through the campus, I saw a group of people in front of a building up head. Two girls - probably students - walked past me.
"Let's be casual, and just see what's going on," said one.
"Wait," the other girls peered ahead, "Is that the Kesha rally?"
"That's just pathetic," remarked the first girl.
I wouldn't have described it quite that harshly, but there was no question that what I saw was a bit of letdown. The Chicagoist reporter on the scene estimated that 35 people attended the rally, which seems about right (give or take a few people)
They spread out in the semi-circle
With different people taking turns addressing the crowds
Some talked about their experience of struggling with shame and guilt after being raped. Some talked about friends who were raped but didn't feel comfortable sharing it even with people they otherwise trusted the most.
Some expressed solidarity and spoke out against a society where, too often, is all too willing to give benefit of the doubt to rapists and question the motives of the victims, whether the victims said or did anything to somehow bring it on themselves.
A woman who said she was an attorney from Oak Park was walking around, passing out stickers like this.
Like I said, the rally was supposed to go on until 8:00 PM. But by around 6:45 PM, the outdoor portion of the rally, at least, was over. People were invited to go inside to decompress and regain their emotional equilibrium in a nice, calm setting.
I hung around a bit as the organizers got interviewed by the media. I was curious to see who showed up. Student media outlets from DePaul University and Columbia College were there, as was the Chicagoist reporter who wrote the story I linked to further up. It was entirely possible that a few other reporters stopped by earlier, before I got there, but they didn't stick around.
Because a random person just hanging around as other people got interviewed would be weird, I made my way toward the space where most of the other people went. It turned out to be a classroom-sized space with some pretty damn comfy chairs.
A singing duo who introduced themselves as the Mixtape played some songs.
And they were pretty good.
Then, another musician did some Kesha covers, and she was... pretty bad. I mean, I think she might be a decent singer, but most Kesha songs don't really fit with the acoustic guitar thing she was doing, and she couldn't overcome that.
The organizers mentioned that they had the space until 9:00 PM, but things pretty much petered out by 7:30 PM. A few people hung around longer, but most left.
On one hand, I don't want to be as harsh on the rally as the two girls were. It was an important gesture, one that should have been made, no matter how many people showed up. But it's hard not to be disappointing. The official event Facebook listing lists 956 people as "interested," but a mere fraction of them were actually there.
I can't help but wonder if there would've been more people if Kesha actually showed up.
You could blame the cold - but the temperatures were low during the Black Lives Matter protest, and the CTU rally and more people showed up.
It's a sobering thought.