Drake’s lawyers claim “millions of people” believe Kendrick Lamar was literally calling him a pedophile

Drake‘s lawyers have claimed that “millions of people” believe Kendrick Lamar was literally calling him a pedophile.

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

Last November, 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 ‘Not Like Us’, among other allegations.

In the 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 – who entered a viral rap feud with Drake last year.

More recently, UMG 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”.

UMG also cited a 2022 petition in their filing which noted that Drake, along with various other musicians, had urged prosecutors to stop citing rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials. “Drake was right then and is wrong now,” read the filing. “The complaint’s unjustified claims against UMG are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar.”

Yesterday (March 20), Drake’s team hit back at UMG’s central argument: that most listeners wouldn’t take “outrageous insults”, which are naturally par for the course in diss tracks, as fact.

Per Billboard, the ‘Legend’ rapper’s lawyers say that line of argument is “doomed to fail” because people had taken Lamar’s words seriously.

“UMG completely ignores the complaint’s allegations that millions of people, all over the world, did understand the defamatory material as a factual assertion that plaintiff is a pedophile,” his attorneys wrote.

Indeed, Lamar played the biggest 13-minute gig in music when he headlined the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show in February. Boasting guest appearances from SZA, Serena Williams and Samuel L. Jackson, it was later named the most-watched Super Bowl performance in history, and saw a performance of the contentious track.

It also spawned a new meme across social media, with many noticing Kendrick Lamar taking a second to smirk at the camera as he dropped the ‘Not Like Us’ line: “Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young”.

Drake’s lawyer’s continued: “UMG also ignores [the lawsuit’s claim] that the statements in question (and surrounding context) implied that the allegations were based on undisclosed evidence and the audience understood as much.”

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