Kesha not allowed to sing Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ at Billboard Music Awards 2016

Kesha was supposed to sing "It Ain't Me Babe" by Bob Dylan at the Billboard Music Awards 2016 on May 22. However, she is no longer allowed to do the performance and she took to Instagram to explain why.

On May 17, Tuesday, Kesha posted a photo of herself playing the guitar. In the caption, she denied the rumors that she was planning to allude to her legal battle against Dr. Luke during her performance at the Billboard Music Awards 2016, which is supervised by Dick Clark Productions. 

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.  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. I was never going to use a picture of him, speak of him or allude to my legal situation in any way.  I simply wanted to sing a song I love to honor an artist I have always looked up to.  thank u all for the continued support.

A photo posted by Kesha (@iiswhoiis) on May 17, 2016 at 3:57pm PDT

Released by Columbia Records on Aug. 8, 1964, "It Ain't Me Babe" was written by Dylan and was said to be inspired by his former girlfriend Suze Rotolo. It originally appeared on his fourth album titled "Another Side of Bob Dylan."

In a statement obtained by New York Times, Dick Clark Productions said Dr. Luke's label Kemosabe Records withdrew its approval of the appearance. This was after reports claiming that the performance of Kesha, who is still signed to Kemosabe Records, would directly reference her dispute with Dr. Luke.

Having accused Dr. Luke of sexual and emotional abuse that allegedly transpired during the course of their professional relationship, Kesha is suing the producer to get out of her contracts with his music companies. So far, a New York judge has rejected most of the claims and the producer has sued the "Tik Tok" singer for defamation and breach of contract.

Recently, Kesha collaborated with Russian-German musician Anton Zaslavski, who is professionally known as Zedd, in a song titled "True Colors." The latter is featured in a feature-length documentary titled "Zedd True Colors," which will have its world premiere at the LA Film Festival at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on June 2, Los Angeles Times reported.

Directed by Susan Bonds and Alex Lieu, "Zedd True Colors" talks about the Grammy-winning electronic dance music artist's recent album "True Colors." It is expected that Kesha will make an appearance in the documentary.

Here is "True Colors" by Kesha and Zedd: