{"id":202072,"date":"2025-10-10T06:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T06:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/202072\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T06:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T06:57:09","slug":"drake-loses-defamation-lawuit-over-kendrick-lamars-not-like-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/202072\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Loses Defamation Lawuit Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDrake<\/a> has lost his defamation suit against Universal Music Group<\/a> (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d<\/a> with a federal judge ruling that the allegedly defamatory statements in the hit diss track<\/a> qualify as \u201cnonactionable opinion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a ruling published Thursday, Oct. 9, Judge Jeannette A. Vargas stated: \u201cThe issue in this case is whether \u2018Not Like Us\u2019 can reasonably be understood to convey as a factual matter that Drake is a pedophile or that he has engaged in sexual relations with minors. In light of the overall context in which the statements in the Recording were made, the Court holds that it cannot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement shared with Rolling Stone, a UMG spokesperson said, \u201cFrom the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day. We\u2019re pleased with the court\u2019s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake\u2019s music and investing in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake filed his lawsuit in January, alleging that \u201cNot Like Us\u201d was \u201cintended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile.\u201d Notably, however, the rapper chose to sue UMG \u2014 which also releases Drake\u2019s music \u2014 rather than Lamar directly.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe claimed the label defamed him by using \u201cevery weapon in its arsenal\u201d to turn \u201cNot Like Us\u201d into a hit \u2014 including allegedly seeding it with fake bot streams \u2014 because it \u201cunderstood\u201d that the song\u2019s \u201cinflammatory and shocking allegations were a gold mine.\u201d UMG denied the allegations<\/a> and moved to dismiss<\/a> the suit.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn tossing the suit, Judge Vargas compared rap diss tracks to forums like YouTube and X where people are able to spout off, as opposed to anything resembling journalistic reporting or straight news. \u201cThe average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public fact-checked verifiable content,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also said the defamation claims needed to be examined within the context of the specific Drake-Kendrick rap battle<\/a>, \u201cin which both participants exchanged progressively caustic, inflammatory insults and accusations.\u201d Judge Vargas even cited the song Drake released before \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d \u201cTaylor Made Freestyle,\u201d<\/a> which contained an AI-generated Tupac<\/a> voice trying to goad Lamar into talking about Drake \u201cliking young girls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Drake tried to argue that \u201cNot Like Us\u201d should be considered as a single entity, Judge Vargas rejected this notion, saying it \u201cmust be placed in its appropriate factual context.\u201d She wrote that Lamar\u2019s lines \u2014 such as, \u201cSay Drake, I hear you like \u2018em young\u201d \u2014 \u201cmust be assessed\u201d in relation to \u201cTaylor Made Freestyle,\u201d stating, \u201cThe similarity in the wording suggests strongly that this line is a direct callback to Drake\u2019s lyrics in the prior song.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe judge also addressed Drake\u2019s allegations that UMG tried to artificially inflate the popularity of \u201cNot Like Us\u201d through fake streams, and found those claims lacking, too. She said Drake\u2019s evidence essentially amounts to \u201cTweets by individual users and reporting from fans,\u201d and called his \u201creliance on online comments and reporting insufficient to meet the plausibility standard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drake has lost his defamation suit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17537,5320,43,7987,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-202072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-courts-and-crime","9":"tag-drake","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-kendrick-lamar","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}