Universal Music Group (UMG) is firing back at Drake’s lawsuit accusing the music giant of defaming him by promoting Kendrick Lamar’s diss song “Not Like Us,” calling the case “illogical” and accusing Drake sought to “weaponize the legal process.”
In a strongly worded statement released on Wednesday afternoon (January 15), UMG categorically denied the allegations in Drake’s lawsuit filed in New York federal court earlier in the day and harshly criticized its superstar artist for filing the lawsuit.
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the idea that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist, let alone Drake, is illogical,” the company wrote. “We have invested heavily in his music and we Employees around the world have worked tirelessly over the years to help him achieve historic business and personal financial success.”
The lawsuit alleges that Universal Music Group knew the “inflammatory and shocking accusations” in Lamar’s scathing diss track were false but chose to put “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
But in Universal Music Group’s response, the music giant said Drake himself regularly engages in rap beefs that include exaggerated statements about his opponents – behavior he now claims is illegal.
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used Universal Music Group to spread his music and poetry to engage in traditionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings for other artists. ,” Universal Music Group wrote. “He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to suppress an artist’s creative expression and seek damages from Universal Music Group for distributing that artist’s music.”
Drake’s case has repeatedly made clear that he is not suing Lamar himself and that he is holding Universal Music Group responsible for releasing an allegedly defamatory song.
Universal Music Group denied the claims in a statement and said it would defend Lamar or any other artist if they were subject to such a lawsuit.
“We have not, and will not, target any individual for defamation,” Universal Music Group said in a statement. “At the same time, we will vigorously defend this lawsuit to protect our people and our reputation, and any potential Artists who are directly or indirectly the target of frivolous lawsuits because they wrote only one song.”
Last year, Drake and Lamar traded scathing diss tracks, culminating with Lamar’s knockout “Not Like Us” — a song that slammed Drake as an “acknowledged pedophile” and topped topped the ranking list. In November, the star filed a shocking legal petition hinting that he planned to sue Universal Music Group, claiming the company artificially promoted a song that contained defamatory remarks about him.
Earlier Wednesday, Drake made good on those threats, filing a federal lawsuit claiming that Universal Music Group promoted a “false and malicious narrative” that the star rapper was a pedophile, severely damaging his reputation and even endangering his life.
“UMG intentionally sought to transform Drake into a pariah, a target of harassment, or worse,” the star’s attorneys wrote in the complaint. “UMG did this not because it believed these false claims to be true, but because it could profit from damaging Drake’s reputation.”
The accusations, and Wednesday’s statement in response, represent a striking rift between the world’s biggest music company and one of its biggest stars. Drake has spent his entire career with UMG, first signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money label to be distributed by Republic Records, and then signing directly to Republic.
