Drake filed a blockbuster lawsuit today against Universal Music Group, an the laid the foundation for adding the NFL if they air Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us during the Superbowl, Media Take Out has learned.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, Drake sued Universal Music Group, the record company behind both rappers, for defamation and harassment, calling its release and promotion of “Not Like Us” an example of valuing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
The suit, brought in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses Universal of having “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
In the lawsuit Drake revealed that that the cover art for “Not Like Us” features a photo of Drake’s Toronto home dotted with markers meant to represent the presence of registered sex offenders. The complaint claims that as a result of this, a shooting occurred at Drakes residence days after the song’s release that injured a security guard — calling it “the 2024 equivalent of ‘Pizzagate’” — and cites two other attempted trespassers in the days that followed.
The suit was brought on behalf of Drake by Michael J. Gottlieb, a partner at the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who has previously represented the owner of the Washington pizzeria targeted by the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorists and the election workers falsely accused by Rudolph W. Giuliani of aiding a false plot to steal the 2020 presidential election.
In November, Drake had initiated pre-litigation actions against Universal in state court in New York and Texas, naming Spotify and the radio conglomerate iHeartMedia as potential participants in an elaborate scheme to promote “Not Like Us” using bots and payola. On Tuesday, representatives for Drake withdrew the earlier filing in New York against Universal and Spotify in favor of the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. A hearing in the Texas matter, which includes iHeartMedia, was delayed until later this month.
The lawsuit specifically mentions the fact that Universal is working with the NFL to possibly play the song during the Superbowl Halftime. The suit suggests that he NFL could also be liable if it does so.
[social_warfare]