Pop singer Kesha made a false claim that Dr Luke molested Katy Perry when there’s “no evidence whatsoever” that he did, a judge ruled last week while sending a long-running clash between Kesha and her former mentor toward trial. The decision isn’t the final word in Dr Luke’s wider-ranging defamation and breach-of-contract suit against Kesha, but his lawyer said the ruling “brings him closer to the justice that he seeks.” Kesha and Dr Luke have been locked in court battles since 2014, when she filed a lawsuit alleging that he drugged and molested her in 2005 and emotionally abused her for years. He denied it and sued her, saying she was smearing him with fabrications to try to get out of her record deal. A New York court later dismissed Kesha’s physical abuse-related claims because of time limits and other legal issues, without ruling on whether the allegations had merit. Meanwhile, Kesha claimed – in a 2016 text message to Lady Gaga – that Firework singer Katy Perry “was molested by the same man.” Dr Luke, born Lukasz Gottwald, denies it, and Perry said it was “absolutely not” true during sworn questioning in 2017.