Drake’s legal team have claimed that “millions of people” interpreted Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics as literal accusations of pedophilia, as part of an ongoing legal dispute with Universal Music Group.
The Toronto rapper’s Frozen Moments LLC filed a dispute against UMG in New York last November, alleging the publisher had “artificially inflated” streams for Lamar’s track ‘Not Like Us’, among other claims.
UMG subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the suit, stating Drake had pursued legal action because he “lost a rap battle”. The label argued that “instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be”, Drake had “sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds”.
In their latest response, Drake’s lawyers have challenged UMG’s position that listeners wouldn’t take the track’s content as factual statements. “UMG completely ignores the complaint’s allegations that millions of people, all over the world, did understand the defamatory material as a factual assertion that plaintiff is a pedophile,” his attorneys wrote.
The legal team added: “UMG also ignores [the lawsuit’s claim] that the statements in question (and surrounding context) implied that the allegations were based on undisclosed evidence and the audience understood as much.”
The track in question featured during Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performance in February, which included appearances from SZA, Serena Williams and Samuel L. Jackson.
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