Drake has filed an amended grievance in his defamation lawsuit in opposition to Common Music Group, claiming Kendrick Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present efficiency of “Not Like Us” launched the tune to hundreds of thousands of latest listeners and induced “much more individuals to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile.”
The artist’s authorized group cited the efficiency’s viewership (reportedly over 133 million), arguing it broadened the viewers for the diss observe to those that had “by no means earlier than heard the tune or any of the songs that preceded it. It was the primary, and can hopefully be the final, Tremendous Bowl halftime present orchestrated to assassinate the character of one other artist.”
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Within the submitting, Drake’s legal professionals additionally claimed that, primarily based “on data and perception,” Kendrick purposely omitted the phrase “pedophile” from the efficiency as a result of the rapper wouldn’t have been allowed to carry out on the Tremendous Bowl in any other case.
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“That’s as a result of practically everybody understands that it’s defamatory to falsely model somebody a ‘licensed pedophile,’” the grievance reads, including the argument that UMG deliberately induced hurt to Drake by negotiating and selling the Tremendous Bowl efficiency after his preliminary lawsuit was filed in January.
In a associated assertion, Drake’s lead legal professional, Michael Gottlieb, added: “UMG’s PR ‘spin’ and failed efforts to keep away from discovery can’t suppress the details and the reality. With discovery now transferring ahead, Drake will expose the proof of UMG’s misconduct, and UMG can be held accountable for the implications of its ill-conceived selections.”
UMG responded to the amended grievance with a prolonged assertion (by way of The Hollywood Reporter) calling the lawsuit “baseless” and claiming Drake was “being misled by his authorized representatives into taking one absurd authorized step after one other.”
“Each the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and inventive expression,” UMG continued. “Ought to his authorized representatives senselessly maintain the New York lawsuit alive, we’ll reveal that each one remaining claims are with out benefit. It’s shameful that these silly and frivolous authorized theatrics proceed. They’re reputationally and financially pricey to Drake and haven’t any likelihood of success.
The amended grievance follows a movement filed by Drake final month, during which his legal professionals alleged “Not Like Us” has led “hundreds of thousands of individuals” to consider their consumer is a pedophile.