Content Warning: Brief mention of sexual assault.
Doja Cat finally addressed the controversy surrounding her work with music producer Dr. Luke.
When Doja Cat was 17, she signed to RCA and Kemosabe Records — the latter of which was cofounded by Dr. Luke. Then, in 2014, Kesha accused the producer of drugging and raping her.
However, Doja Cat's continued involvement with Dr. Luke has faced criticism — especially as he has been nominated for Grammy Awards for the past two years for his work on Doja Cat's Planet Her and "Say So."
As part of her Rolling Stone cover, Doja Cat finally discussed her work with Dr. Luke. The interviewer asked about her collab with Saweetie on "Best Friend" — which Dr. Luke has production and writing credits on. Saweetie has since said the song was part of a "bundle deal" and implied that she doesn't have plans to work with him again.
When Doja Cat was asked by Rolling Stone whether she feels the same as Saweetie, she initially answered, “That’s not a question I feel really comfortable answering," before continuing, “I haven’t worked with him in a very long time."
"A lot of those songs were...” She added. “There’s shit that he’s credited for, where I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t know if you did anything on that.’”
When asked for specifics, Doja Cat replied, “It doesn’t matter. The point is he’s gotten some credit for shit. And, you know, it’s whatever. I don’t think I need to work with him again. I don’t think I need to work with him in the future. I know that.”
A few weeks later, Doja Cat then sent a follow-up statement via her rep in an email: "I wanted to clarify something that I had been thinking about since the interview. When asked about Luke I may have said something that someone could interpret as me saying that he had taken credit on things he didn’t deserve to. I just want to be clear that I have no firsthand knowledge of that being the case and I don’t want to participate in the rumor mill. The credits on my music are accurate, and I don’t want to imply anything else.”
Doja Cat then said that her comments came from her “sensitivities in the past about certain people attributing my general success to the work of others — in particular, men... As a young woman, I think it is always important to fight for the credit that we are all due, and that was the point I was trying to make there.”
You can read the full profile here.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.