The famous actor we once knew is looking paranoid and now spiraling.
Before Kendrick Lamar gave everyone what they tuned in for and performed “Not Like Us” on one of the biggest stages on the globe, he performed a skit teasing that playing the song would set Drake’s lawyers in attack mode. When he did perform the song, it is worth noting that Kendrick never called Drake a pedophile — the vertically challenged musician took the high road and self-censored that part. Now, did that stop the millions of viewers at home from hearing the packed stadium belt out a glorious a minorrrrrrrrrrr? No, but it’s a little strange to punish Universal Music Group for having a participatory audience, right? Drake and his lawyers don’t think so. ABA Journal has coverage:
Rapper and singer Drake has alleged that the Universal Music Group “has tripled and quadrupled down on its defamation-for-profit strategy” in part by arranging for fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar to perform his 2024 song “Not Like Us” at the 2025 Super Bowl, according to an amended lawsuit that he filed April 16.
The rap track falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile “and calls for violent retribution,” according to the suit. Even though Lamar left out the word “pedophile” at the Super Bowl, the defamatory meaning was still conveyed, causing more people “to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile,” according to the amended complaint, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York.
Look. There’s no denying that Drake has a lot of money and can afford some of the best lawyers, but did they read the “his silence carried defamatory meaning” part out loud a couple of times before it went live? It holds weight theoretically, but what could Kendrick have done during that part of the song to not run afoul? Have Uncle Samuel Jackson interrupt the bridge to say that any similarity with actual events or rappers on this stage are purely coincidental and should not be taken as assertions of fact? While that may have fit with the cultural superego motif Uncle Sam was going for, it would have definitely ruined the cadence of the song.
If Drake and his legal team seriously want to go in on this silence is sufficient for defamation line of argument, that can only mean one thing. We should soon catch news of Conan O’Brian being served for daring to reference Kendrick’s Superbowl Victory Lap at the Oscars:
Unlike Kendrick, Conan O’Brien actually used the no-no word. Let’s find out how “lawyered up” he really is.
Universal Music Group had this to say about the once respected rapper’s legal move:
“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed a 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” the statement said.
“We will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit,” the statement said. “It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.”
Damn. That “reputationally and financially costly” line was devastating. Who wrote that? Kendrick?
