\n<\/p>\n
A federal judge has thrown out Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), ruling that the company cannot be held responsible for promoting Kendrick Lamar\u2019s hit diss track Not Like Us.<\/p>\n
US district judge Jeannette Vargas decided Thursday that the song\u2019s lyrics express \u201cnonactionable opinion\u201d and therefore cannot be considered defamatory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue in this case is whether Not Like Us 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,\u201d the judgment states. \u201cIn light of the overall context in which the statements in the Recording were made, the Court holds that it cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement provided to Variety, 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
A spokesperson for Drake said in a statement: \u201cWe intend to appeal today\u2019s ruling, and we look forward to the court of appeals reviewing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drake, who is signed to Republic Records, and Lamar, signed to Interscope Records, both operate under the Universal Music Group umbrella but through separate labels. The legal fight began earlier this year when Drake accused UMG of damaging his reputation by distributing and promoting Not Like Us.<\/p>\n
He claimed the company made secret payments and offered discounted licensing deals to boost the song\u2019s reach, allegedly to harm his brand and reduce his leverage in ongoing contract talks.<\/p>\n
In March, UMG filed to have the motion dismissed. The label claimed that Drake \u201clost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead 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,\u201d UMG said in its statement. \u201cPlaintiff\u2019s complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kendrick Lamar is widely acknowledged to have won last year\u2019s culture-consuming rap beef with Drake, with Not Like Us going on to win five Grammy awards, including record of the year and song of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A federal judge has thrown out Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), ruling that the company cannot be held responsible for promoting Kendrick Lamar\u2019s hit diss track Not Like Us. US district judge Jeannette Vargas decided Thursday that the song\u2019s lyrics express \u201cnonactionable opinion\u201d and therefore cannot be considered defamatory. \u201cThe issue in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[4718,6883,3608,16207,1936,3289,686,8731],"class_list":{"0":"post-27093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-defamation","9":"tag-dismissed","10":"tag-drake","11":"tag-drakes","12":"tag-group","13":"tag-lawsuit","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-universal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}