In November of last year, Drake decided to take legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar's hit diss track, "Not Like Us." He filed a pre-action petition, accusing the label of knowingly spreading the "false and malicious" narrative that he's a pedophile. In January, it was reported that he dropped the petition, and he filed a lawsuit shortly after.
Earlier today, UMG filed a motion to dismiss the suit, suggesting that Drake is simply being a sore loser following his battle with Kendrick. According to them, he “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
Drake's Lawsuit
Now, Drake's attorney Michael J. Gottlieb has issued a response, making it clear that he does not plan on backing down. “UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: a greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence," he told Variety. "This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists.”
Gottlieb's statement arrives just a couple of weeks after Drake dropped his petition against iHeartMedia, the parent company of iHeartRadio. “In exchange for documents that showed iHeart did nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition. No payments were made by either one of us,” a representative for the company said in a statement. Rolling Stone reported that the two parties had reached an "amicable resolution."
