Drake sues for defamation over Kendrick Lamar song 'Not Like Us' for "false allegation of being criminal paedophile"
Drake is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for releasing Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' last year
Drake is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) for releasing Kendrick Lamarās diss track āNot Like Usā last year ā where Drake and his peers were described asĀ ācertified paedophilesā who should ābe registered and placed on neighbourhood watchā.
The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court today (January 15), called the release and promotion of the track, where Lamar alleged Drake ālikes āem youngā,Ā an example of valuing ācorporate greed over the safety and wellbeing of its artistsā.
As The Guardian reports, the lawsuit alleges that UMG āapproved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap trackā that was āintended 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 responseā.
The suit also draws attention to the artwork for āNot Like Usā, which features aĀ picture of Drakeās Toronto house with markers used to identify the homes of registered sex offenders. It then mentions a shooting which occurred outside the rapperās house two days after the track was released, calling it āthe 2024 equivalent of āPizzagate'ā.
Advertisement
Lawyer Michael J Gottlieb is representing Drake in this case. Gottlieb has previously represented the owner of a Washington DC pizzeria targeted by āPizzagateā conspiracy theorists in 2016, andĀ election workers falsely accused by Rudy Giuliani of aiding a fictional plot during the 2020 US presidential election to sway the vote towards Joe Biden.
Universal has yet to respond to the allegations, according to the BBC.
Drake in 2022. CREDIT: Prince Williams/WireImageRecommended
Earlier today Drake dropped a legal case which accused labels of inflating the number of streams on āNot Like Usā. He pursued the legal case last November and alleged that Universal Music GroupĀ (UMG) andĀ Spotify had āartificially inflatedā the number of listens on the track.
However, there are now reportsĀ that the rapper met with Spotify and Universal representatives yesterday (January 14) to discuss the case. The BBC reported that Spotify ā which had filed an opposition ā had no objections, and Universal, which hadnāt filed an opposition, reserved its position.