Drake says censoring of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl ‘Not Like Us’ performance proves his point in lawsuit 

Drake has amended his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group, highlighting Kendrick Lamar’s performance of ‘Not Like Us’ at the Super Bowl.

• READ MORE: Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud: the full timeline

It comes as the ‘Hotline Bling’ hitmaker filed a dispute against Universal Music Group in New York, alleging that the publisher and label had “artificially inflated” streams for Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us’, among other allegations.

The diss track dropped back in May last year during Drake and Lamar’s infamous rap battle. It quickly got fans talking, namely due to Lamar accusing his peer of being “a certified paedophile”. Drake has denied any wrongdoing.

In the initial filing – which can be viewed here – Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG and Spotify of “illegally” aiding and boosting ‘Not Like Us’ streams in favour of Lamar. He also alleged that “UMG intentionally sought to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse” and “did so not because it believes any of these false claims to be true, but instead, because it would profit from damaging Drake’s reputation” (via The Hollywood Reporter).

UMG then filed a motion to dismiss the Canadian rapper’s suit, stating that he had sued the corporation because he “lost a rap battle”. They went on to say 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”.

Now, outlets including THR and Rolling Stone have shared that the Canadian rapper has filed an amended complaint in his defamation case – drawing attention to K.Dot’s huge performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show earlier this year.

At the momentous gig, Lamar played a 13-minute set that boasted guest appearances from SZA, Serena Williams and Samuel L. Jackson. It included a performance of the contentious track that soon sparked a viral meme, and was later named as the most-watched Super Bowl performance in history.

According to Drake’s new filing, his team says that Lamar’s show in February “assassinated” Drake’s character and introduced “millions” more to the song, thus “causing even more people to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile.”

Filed on Wednesday night (April 16), the team highlighted that Lamar omitted the word “paedophile” in his Super Bowl rendition, but kept in suggestive lines like “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young”. This first change to the song, they suggested, comes as evidence that the song is defamatory.

“No other modifications were made. On information and belief, Kendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word ‘pedophile’ (in the phrase ‘certified pedophile’) was omitted from the lyrics,” it read. “That is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile’.”

It then went on to point out that the show became the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show of all time, gathering an audience of 133million globally. This, it claimed, introduced the diss track to “millions more who had never before heard the song or any of the songs that preceded it.”

“It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist,” the complaint added.

UMG has again denied the allegations and made motions to dismiss the claims. On Wednesday night (April 16), the company shared a statement, calling Drake’s lawsuit “baseless” and warning that the implications will stifle artistic creative expression (as per THR).

The song is widely considered the most successful of the feud, becoming Lamar’s fourth Number One single and smashing numerous streaming records.

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