Michael Rubin Confirms ‘Not Like Us’ Wasn’t Allowed at His All-White Party Because of Drake

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin sat down with The Breakfast Club Wednesday (Aug. 14) morning ahead of Fanatics Fest in New York City this upcoming weekend (Aug. 16-18).

During their conversation, co-host Loren LoRosa brought up the rumor that he banned Kendrick Lamar‘s Billboard Hot 100-topping diss track “Not Like Us” from being played at his annual July 4th All-White party because Drake was in attendance. “It was true,” Rubin confirmed. “Drake’s my friend for a long time. I’m not gonna invite him — and look, he’s obviously going through a little bit of a battle right now — I’m not gonna have him come there… I just didn’t think it was appropriate.”

Adding, “So I sent a note and said, ‘Hey, let’s not play any one’s music that’s feuding with anyone that’s [at the party]’.” LoRosa then pushed back a little bit and asked if Drake was the one to make the request. “That was a ‘me’ decision. I just thought it was the appropriate thing,” he answered.

Rubin then mentioned the song actually did play during a BBQ the day before as Spotify’s Rap Caviar playlist played in the background. He said he scrambled to get someone to hit skip because Drake was on the way.

Many on social media speculated on the Toronto rapper’s facial expressions in pictures, particularly the one below.

However, Rubin squashed those rumors, saying Drake “had a great time.” He then added, “You gotta be built for social media; you gotta be tough, you gotta take sh—t from people… Drake is an iconic artist that we all have tremendous respect for. What I said to Drake — and I honestly believe this — is this is a great test for him. You can’t get to where he’s got to and not have people coming for you.”

You can watch the full Breakfast Club interview here.

Fanatics Fest will be at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC starting this Friday. You can get tickets here.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.