Drake’s legal team released a statement about his ongoing lawsuit related to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track shortly before Lamar performed it at the Super Bowl halftime show in front of a vast audience.
During the event, which took place in the middle of the Kansas City Chiefs versus Philadelphia Eagles game last night (February 9), Lamar entertained viewers with a selection of his hit songs, including a notable cameo by Serena Williams.
In his set, Lamar performed ‘Not Like Us’ — a track that has sparked controversy due to its harsh references to fellow rapper Drake.
One of the lines in the track alludes to Drake’s 2021 album: “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophile.”
Fans noted that Lamar adapted some of the more explicit lyrics during his Super Bowl performance, excluding the word ‘pedophile’ among other lines.
After ‘Not Like Us’ was released, Drake initiated a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents both artists, for defamation.
Although Lamar is not directly mentioned in the lawsuit, the filing accuses Universal of prioritizing ‘corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists’ by promoting the track despite allegedly knowing the pedophilia claims were false.
The lawsuit alleges that Universal ‘approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit from a rap track,’ which was ‘meant to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile,’ encouraging public vigilantism.
The lawsuit was originally filed in January, but just hours before Lamar’s performance in New Orleans, Drake’s team provided an updated statement on the case.
They declared: “UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world.
“We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”
In their response to Drake’s accusations, UMG told The Independent: “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. 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.”
UNILAD has reached out to UMG for additional comments.