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Drake amended his lawsuit against Universal Music Group this week to add claims that Kendrick Lamar defamed him at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
Lamar’s 2024 smash hit “Not Like Us,” a diss track about Drake, was a key part of his performance in New Orleans. The rapper left out the line calling Drake a “certified pedophile,” but included other direct callouts including “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” (followed by a snippet of the song’s beat), “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young,” and “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
“The agreement to censor the word ‘pedophile’ failed to cure the Super Bowl Performance of conveying the Recording’s central defamatory meaning,” the new complaint reads. “Instead, the Super Bowl Performance further solidified the public’s belief in the truth of the allegations against Drake.”
Drake filed a lawsuit in January against UMG for defamation, harassment, and violating New York business law with “Not Like Us,” a diss track about the Canadian rapper. (Both Drake and Lamar, who is not listed as a defendant, are signed to UMG.) The Canadian rapper added the 107-page amended complaint to his case in the Southern District of New York.
Wednesday’s filing notes Lamar and guest SZA’s performance was the largest audience ever for a Super Bowl halftime show with 133.5 million viewers. It also says the show aired to “millions of children, and 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 reads.
The amended complaint calls out the Grammy Awards, which aired the week before the Super Bowl, where Lamar swept all five categories as the crowd sang along to “Not Like Us.”
“Each of these prestigious and high-exposure events introduced new listeners to the Recording, causing even more people to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile,” the filing says of the Grammys and Super Bowl. “Not only did streams of the Recording increase significantly following these two mega-cultural events, but threats against Drake and his family did as well.”
The filing claims UMG worked to get Lamar his Grammy nominations and halftime show spot, gave its consent for “Not Like Us” to air at big events (including a Kamala Harris rally and the Democratic National Convention), and promoted the halftime performance on its social media.
UMG issued a statement in response to the amended complaint: “Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’…It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.” Drake’s attorney fired back, saying, “Drake welcomes discovery and has nothing to hide. It’s not Drake who should worry; it’s UMG’s current leadership.” (Drake is still a UMG artist but his deal is up for renegotiation in 2025, according to the suit.)
The complaint says that the NFL and those responsible for airing the Super Bowl understood that “certified pedophile” isn’t appropriate for TV, but regardless, the performance was defamatory—even though the league and Fox likely pushed Lamar to drop the “pedophile” line. Drake’s suit has not yet named the NFL or Fox as defendants, but he’s shown a willingness to sue several entities attached to “Not Like Us,” including iHeart Radio and Spotify (those cases have since been dropped).
Spokespeople for the league, network, and rapper did not immediately respond to questions.
Another sports entity and network were mentioned in the complaint: CBS and March Madness. The filing shows a photo taken and posted of the broadcast displaying a fan post referencing the halftime show and the Drake–Missouri game. Gatorade and other leagues could also be about to get involved in the drama because Lamar is leading an ad campaign for the sports drink company that will debut this weekend during the NBA playoffs, with plans to continue for the NFL Draft and MLB All-Star game, Bloomberg reported.
Serena Williams, a former flame of Drake’s who like Lamar hails from Compton, Calif., danced to “Not Like Us” at the halftime show. Her presence was a clear dig at Drake, as the Canadian rapper has previously written lyrics disparaging the tennis legend and her husband, while “Not Like Us” includes the line: “better not speak on Serena.” Williams, who recently joined the ownership group of the new WNBA team in Drake’s hometown of Toronto, is not mentioned in the amended complaint.
