Drake issues scathing statement after Kendrick Lamar performs diss track at Super Bowl

Kendrick Lamar performed his Grammy-winning Drake diss track Not Like Us at the Super Bowl, and the singer’s lawyers have issued a statement to Kendrick’s record label, Universal Music Group (UMG), in response.

“UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about paedophilia or child abuse in the real world,” they said.

“We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”

Drake sued UMG, who he is also signed to, for defamation and harassment in January following the release of the diss track last year, the BBC reports. It came after the song accused Drake of being a “certified paedophile” who should “be registered and placed on neighbourhood watch”.

Credit: NFL/YouTube

In the papers filed in New York, Drake’s lawyers accused the record label of launching “a campaign to create a viral hit” out of a song that makes the “false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response”.

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group denied the allegations in a statement to People, saying: “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical.”

“We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success,” they continued.

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They said Drake has “intentionally and successfully” used UMG to distribute his music and poetry over the years and now “seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music”.

“We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more than write a song.”

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