{"id":5355,"date":"2025-04-18T10:23:03","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T10:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/drake-cites-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-show-in-updated-umg-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T10:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T10:23:03","slug":"drake-cites-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-show-in-updated-umg-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/drake-cites-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-show-in-updated-umg-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Cites Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Show In Updated UMG Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tD<\/span>rake has filed an updated version of his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d claiming the rival\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show was intended to \u201cassassinate the character of another artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an amended complaint filed late Wednesday, Drake\u2019s attorneys say the Super Bowl show, watched by 133 million people and \u201cmillion of children\u201d, \u201crevitalized the public\u2019s attention\u201d to lyrics calling Drake a \u201ccertified pedophile\u201d \u2013 a diss that the Canadian superstar claims is false and defamatory.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist,\u201d writes Drake\u2019s lawyer Michael Gottlieb.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the halftime show, which took place weeks after Drake had already sued UMG over \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d Lamar omitted the word \u201cpedophile.\u201d But after much speculation over whether he\u2019d play the song at all, Kendrick really didn\u2019t hold back otherwise \u2013 making it the centerpiece of the set and clearly rapping similar lyrics, including: \u201cSay, Drake, I hear you like \u2019em young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Wednesday\u2019s updated lawsuit, Drake\u2019s lawyers say the decision to censor the word \u201cpedophile\u201d during the broadcast failed to avoid the song\u2019s defamatory meaning \u2013 and instead had underscored the rapper\u2019s legal case against UMG.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word \u2018pedophile\u2019\u2026 was omitted from the lyrics \u2014 that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a \u2018certified pedophile\u2019,\u201d Gottlieb wrote in the new complaint. \u201cThe NFL, as well as the corporate entities responsible for the televised and streaming broadcasts of the Super Bowl Performance, all understood the words \u201ccertified pedophile\u201d to be unacceptable in a broadcast to millions of listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThough it added new claims, the amended complaint also softened certain accusations against UMG, like the lawsuit\u2019s claim that the label used bots to boost the song\u2019s streaming numbers. Drake\u2019s lawyers removed specific allegations about a \u201cwhistleblower\u201d and potentially \u201cindirectly\u201d orchestrated such a campaign: \u201cAt minimum, UMG was aware that third parties were using bots to stream the Recording and turned a blind eye, despite having the power to stop such behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Billboard <\/em>on Thursday, UMG blasted Drake and his lawyers over the latest filing, calling the case \u201cfrivolous and reckless\u201d and saying that changes were made to the lawsuit because Drake\u2019s team was \u201cfearful of being sanctioned for asserting false allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDrake, unquestionably one of the world\u2019s most accomplished artists and with whom we\u2019ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,\u201d UMG wrote. \u201cShould his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLamar released \u201cNot Like Us\u201d last May amid a high-profile beef with Drake that saw the two UMG stars release a series of bruising diss tracks. The song, a knockout punch that blasted Drake as a \u201ccertified pedophile\u201d over an infectious beat, eventually became a chart-topping hit in its own right.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn January, Drake took the unusual step of suing UMG over the song, claiming his own label had defamed him by boosting the track\u2019s popularity. The lawsuit, which doesn\u2019t name Lamar himself as a defendant, alleges that UMG \u201cwaged a campaign\u201d against its own artist to spread a \u201cmalicious narrative\u201d about pedophilia that it knew to be false.<\/p>\n

\n\tUMG has already filed a scathing motion seeking to dismiss the case last month, arguing not only that it was \u201cmeritless\u201d but also ridiculing Drake for suing in the first place. That motion will be refiled following the filing of Wednesday\u2019s updated lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn one of the case\u2019s earliest skirmishes, Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ruled earlier this month that discovery could move ahead in the case, denying UMG\u2019s request to halt document production and depositions until after she decides whether to dismiss the case entirely. Drake\u2019s attorneys had already sought swathes of evidence, including Lamar\u2019s recording contract.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake\u2019s lawyers billed that decision as a major win at the time, allowing them to \u201csee what UMG was so desperately trying to hide.\u201d But on Thursday, UMG warned that the ruling would cut both ways: \u201cThat \u2018win\u2019 will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well,\u201d the company wrote.\u00a0\u201cAs the old saying goes, \u2018be careful what you wish for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their own statement Thursday, Drake\u2019s legal team said the amended complaint \u201cmakes an already strong case stronger\u201d than it was before: \u201cUMG\u2019s PR \u2018spin\u2019 and failed efforts to avoid discovery cannot suppress the facts and the truth,\u201d Gottlieb said. \u201cWith discovery now moving forward, Drake will expose the evidence of UMG\u2019s misconduct, and UMG will be held accountable for the consequences of its ill-conceived decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drake has filed an updated version of his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d claiming the rival\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4535,3365,441,402,4327,303,2280,2046,1109,1709],"class_list":["post-5355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-bowl","tag-cites","tag-drake","tag-kendrick","tag-lamars","tag-lawsuit","tag-show","tag-super","tag-umg","tag-updated"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}