Kesha: Never Mind Billboard Music Awards, I’ll Honor Bob Dylan Anyway (Video)

“Tik Tok” singer performs “It Ain’t Me Babe” with Ben Folds

kesha

Kesha isn’t letting a minor — OK, possibly major — setback prevent her from paying tribute to Bob Dylan.

Days after news broke that Kesha wouldn’t be performing Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” at this Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, the “Tik Tok” singer took to the stage to perform the song at the Orpheum in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Kesha was accompanied on the cover by Ben Folds and Y Music.

The singer, who’s been locked in a long-running legal battle with her longtime producer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, was forced to drop out of the May 22 performance at the Billboard Music Awards after Luke’s label, Sony imprint Kemosabe Records, “rescinded its approval” of the performance.

The about-face occurred following a May 11 TMZ report that Kesha was “planning to make direct references to her ongoing legal battle with Dr. Luke … and might even include images of him.”

The singer denied those claims in a social media post this week.

“I was very excited to perform a tribute to Bob Dylan by singing a cover of ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’ at the Billboard Awards this year. I’m very sad and sorry to say I won’t be allowed to do this,” Kesha wrote. “I just wanted to make very clear that this performance was about me honoring one of my favorite songwriters of all time and has never had anything at all to do with Dr. Luke.”

Kesha and Dr. Luke have been engaged in a contentious legal battle since October 2014. The pop star maintains that Gottwald, who discovered her at 17, inflicted years of verbal and sexual abuse. Gottwald has denied the claims.

Earlier this year, Kesha lost a bid to record outside of her contract with Sony — Kemosabe’s umbrella label — contending that she could record with other producers.

Watch the performance below.

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