Common Music Group (UMG) has filed a movement to dismiss Drake’s amended lawsuit for defamation within the high-profile feud sparked by Kendrick Lamar’s diss observe Not Like Us.
Drake initially filed his defamation lawsuit in January, accusing UMG of deliberately selling Lamar’s observe, which he claimed contained defamatory materials. The preliminary lawsuit alleged that UMG engaged in a smear marketing campaign by supporting the track and pushing its publicity. UMG responded with a movement to dismiss in March, calling the claims baseless.
In April, Drake’s authorized workforce refiled the criticism, this time specializing in new occasions similar to Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl halftime efficiency and the track’s inclusion within the 2025 Grammy Awards. The amended submitting argued that UMG promoted the observe regardless of being conscious of its controversial content material.
Nonetheless, UMG’s newest movement, submitted on Wednesday, maintains a lot of its authentic argument whereas focusing on the recent claims in Drake’s up to date criticism. “Drake filed an amended criticism the place he eliminated clearly false factual allegations,” UMG’s counsel wrote. “The brand new allegations are astonishing.”
UMG’s attorneys identified that Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl efficiency didn’t embody the road that allegedly defamed Drake, particularly, the lyric referring to Drake and his associates as “licensed pedophiles.” They argued that this omission undermines the whole defamation declare.
In a press release to Selection, a UMG spokesperson criticized Drake’s authorized ways, stating, “Nowhere within the hundred-plus web page ‘authorized’ blather written by Drake’s legal professionals do they trouble to acknowledge that Drake himself has written and carried out massively profitable songs containing equally provocative taunts in opposition to different artists. Nor do they point out that it was Drake who began this specific change.”
The 33-page courtroom doc additional claims Drake is trying to justify his lawsuit by “cherry-picking” nameless on-line feedback to argue that the general public seen Lamar’s lyrics as factual moderately than inventive hyperbole. UMG dismissed this method as unreliable and irrelevant, stating that courts routinely reject authorized arguments based mostly on such feedback.
Moreover, the label famous that Drake had beforehand withdrawn false allegations that UMG used bots to inflate Not Like Us streams. The amended criticism now references different unverified sources, together with a podcast host and deleted posts from X (previously Twitter), suggesting that Lamar used bots to advertise the observe.
“Drake’s legal professionals can even hold looking for to ‘uncover’ proof of untamed conspiracies,” UMG’s assertion continued, “However there may be nothing to uncover… Our persevering with partnership with Drake and his enduring success is a shining instance.”
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