Drake Sues Universal Music Group for Defamation Over Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us'
The suit accuses his label of promoting a song that conveys the "false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile."
Just one day after dropping his legal action against Universal Music Group for inflating Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," he's now officially suing his label.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in the Southern District of New York on Wednesday (Jan. 15), the rapper accuses the label (home to both Drake and Kendrick Lamar) of defamation and harassment.
As reported by the New York Times, Drake's lawsuit centres around the song's allegation that Drake is a pedophile.
His lawsuit accuses Universal of having “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
The suit also mentions the cover art for "Not Like Us," which shows Drake's Toronto home and visual suggestions that he is a registered sex offender. In May, shortly after the release of the song, there was a shooting at that Bridle Path residence. The suit says Drake tried to inform Universal of the danger the song was causing, including removing his young son Adonis from school over safety concerns.
“UMG’s greed yielded real world consequences,” his lawyers write. “With the palpable physical threat to Drake’s safety and the bombardment of online harassment, Drake fears for the safety and security of himself, his family, and his friends.”
The filing also claims his label was pumping up the song to devalue Drake for leverage in future contract negotiations.
The suit is careful to note that it is specifically directed at the label, not Kendrick Lamar.
“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” the suit says. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
Kendrick Lamar is set to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show in February.
More on this story as it develops.
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Aya NakamuraMarion Gomez/Billboard France