Today, there was a new development in Drake’s legal dispute with Universal Music Group. Initially, the Toronto rapper had filed a pre-action petition against UMG and Spotify, claiming they artificially boosted Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.”
However, he abruptly withdrew the petition but then proceeded to file a formal lawsuit against UMG, accusing them of defamation and harassment.
Drake alleges that UMG spread the false narrative that he is a pedophile through their promotion of the song. In response, UMG has denied these allegations, calling the lawsuit illogical.
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical,” a UMG spokesperson said in part. “We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music,” they also added. “We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more than write a song.”
