As Drake continues to wage a legal battle against UMG, the conglomerate has responded to his defamation lawsuit.
On Wednesday (January 15), the Toronto rapper filed a lawsuit accusing the label of perpetuating a “false and malicious narrative” that he is a pedophile. The lawsuit stems from Kendrick Lamar’s scathing diss track “Not Like Us.”
“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” Drake’s suit reads. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false but dangerous.”
In a fiery response, UMG claims that Drake’s accusations have no merit.
“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,” UMG’s statement read. “We have invested massively in his music. and ur employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists,” the statement continued. He 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.
UMG plans to marshall their resources to fight the lawsuit.
“We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual,” the statement concludes. “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 that write a song.”
Interestingly, Drake’s lawsuit follows an agreement that was reached between him, UMG, and Spotify on Tuesday (January 14). As HOT97 previously reported, Drake’s team withdrew his legal petition in New York. All parties involved “voluntarily discontinued the case without imposing costs on any involved party.”
“The petitioner hereby voluntarily discontinues […] without costs to any party,” the documents read.
Originally filed in November, Drake’s attorneys believed they have procured “sufficient evidence to pursue a defamation case against the label.”
Drake’s legal petition that was filed in Texas is still on the table. The filing accuses iHeartRadio of financially benefiting from payola in connection with Universal Music Group to push “Not Like Us” onto the airwaves.
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