Cnn
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Drake says he was defamed by Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show, and Grammy Awards, where more than 100 million combined viewers have heard Lamar’s notorious “Not Like US” track, according to legal files.
The Canadian rapper took the new allegations on Wednesday in a broadcast defamation trial against his own record company, Universal Music Group. Drake initially filed the trial as part of the track in January.
“These prestigious and high -exhibition events introduced new listeners” to the allegedly defamatory song, Drake’s lawyers wrote in the last dossier. “Not only have the registration flows increased significantly after these two mega-cultural events, but threats against Drake and his family also did.”
The current Drake label is Republic Records, a UMG division. Lamar – who is not appointed in the trial – is an interscope artist, also a UMG division. Drake’s modified complaint does not accuse the winner of the Pulitzer Lamar price of any reprehensible act. UMG has argued that the trial should be rejected and that their request is still pending.
“Drake, undoubtedly one of the most accomplished artists in the world and with whom we have had a successful 16 -year -old relationship, is misleading by his legal representatives to take an absurd legal stage after the other,” said UMG in CNN in a statement Thursday, in response to Drake’s modified trial.
The dispute arises from last year’s epic quarrel between rappers Drake and Lamar, who exchanged insults more and more personal and not verified in a series of songs. In “Not like us”, Lamar said that Drake was a “certified pedophile”, an allegation that Drake denies vehemently.
This song was “broadcast to the general public for a part-time show of the Super Bowl”, wrote the lawyers of Drake on Wednesday, adding: “It was the first, and hope to be the last, the half-time show of the Super Bowl orchestrated to murder the character of another artist.”
During the show at halftime, Lamar jumped the line of the “certified pedophile”, but rapped another line where he accused Drake of targeting young girls – a moment which has become viral.
In Wednesday’s file, Drake’s lawyers argued that Lamar did not say the most famous lyrics in the song because “almost everyone understands that he is defamatory”. They also claimed that their damage had been aggravated because “Lamar’s image directly looking at the camera when he named Drake and said that Drake“ loved them “young … has become a viral meme. »»
A week before the Super Bowl, in Grammys, Lamar won five prizes, including the record of the year and the song of the year. He did not play “not like us” during the ceremony, but extracts were played several times when Lamar won his grammys, and the crowd sung auditably another controversial line on Drake.
CNN previously pointed out that the performance of the Lamar Super Bowl had won an average of 133.5 million viewers, making it the “performance of the most watched half-time of the super bowl in history” according to Fox, the broader of the Big Show. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Grammys attracted 15.4 million viewers when it was broadcast in January.
UMG has repeatedly denied the defamation allegations of Drake and his assertions that the label paid to inflate the online flows of the song, and says that his trial is both “illogical” and “frivolous”. UMG says that the trial could restrict free discourse protections for musical artists.
Drake received an early procedural victory earlier this month, when judge Jeannette Vargas rejected an UMG attempt to suspend the legal process of research known as “discovery”. Vargas judge Said Drake can go ahead and continue UMG documents on Super Bowl’s performance, Grammy Awards, Lamar’s record contract, and more.
“With Discovery now, Drake will expose the evidence of UMG’s misconduct, and the UMG will be held responsible for the consequences of its poorly designed decisions,” Drake’s lawyer, Michael Gottlieb said in a statement on Thursday.
Regarding the recent decision, UMG said: “Drake will be personally subject to discovery. As the old adage says: “Pay attention to what you want. »»
Later Thursday, Drake’s lawyers told CNN, in part: “Drake knows exactly what he asked for: truth and responsibility.”
The trial is still in its early stages. If there is no non -course regulation, which is common in defamation cases, the test is in the process of potentially starting in the summer of 2026.
