Drake has doubled down on his defamation and harassment claims against Universal Music Group (UMG), filing an amended complaint Wednesday that claims the NFL’s decision to ban the word “pedophile” from Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance supports his allegation that “Not Like Us” is defamatory.
“The version of the recording performed during the Super Bowl Performance was modified to exclude the word ‘pedophile,’ but no other modifications were made,” Drake’s updated complaint filed in Manhattan federal court and obtained by Rolling Stone reads. “That is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile.’”
The new 107-page complaint claims that “the NFL, as well as the corporate entities responsible for the televised and streaming broadcasts of the Super Bowl Performance, all understood the words ‘certified pedophile’ to be unacceptable in a broadcast to millions of listeners. Notwithstanding that apparent consensus, UMG continues to publish the recording absent the censoring that even Kendrick Lamar deemed acceptable for the Super Bowl Performance.”
When Drake originally filed his controversial lawsuit against his own label back in January, Lamar had not yet headlined the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025. Drake and his lawyers mentioned it was on the horizon, but they didn’t know it would be the most-watched halftime show in history, with more than 133 million viewers tuning in — more views than the actual game clocked in. In the new amended complaint, Drake and his lawyers alleged that the show vastly compounded the alleged damage to his reputation and finances claimed in his lawsuit. They say the game performance “reached millions of children, and millions more who had never before heard the song.” (Though the televised version of “Not Like Us” censored the words “certified pedophile,” Lamar still performed other allegedly damaging lyrics such as, “Hey Drake, I hear you like ‘em young,” and “Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him.”)
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“It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist,” Drake’s amended complaint reads. He says the song also reached a wider audience through the 2025 Grammy Awards telecast, where “Not Like Us” won Record of the Year and Song of the Year on Feb. 3. “Each of these prestigious and high-exposure events introduced new listeners to the recording, causing even more people to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile,” the new court filing continues. “Not only did streams of the recording increase significantly following these two mega-cultural events, but threats against Drake and his family did as well.”
In a statement released Wednesday night, lawyers for UMG called the lawsuit “frivolous and reckless.” They said the amended version was an attempt to avoid sanctions for making “false allegations” in the first version. The lawyers didn’t elaborate, but the original lawsuit accused UMG of conspiring with and paying third parties to fake streams of “Not Like Us.” In the amended complaint, Drake backs down somewhat, saying, “at minimum, UMG was aware that third parties were using bots to stream the recording and turned a blind eye, despite having the power to stop such behavior.”
“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” UMG’s lawyers said Wednesday. “In Texas last November, his counsel instituted a legal proceeding with much fanfare and bluster. On Monday, they quietly dropped the case. …Both the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and creative expression. Should his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.”
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In their previously filed and scathing motion to dismiss Drake’s initial complaint, UMG called Drake’s claims “unjustified” and an attempt “to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar.” “Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, 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,” lawyers for UMG wrote. (Instead of replying to the motion, Drake’s camp filed the amended complaint, setting the stage for UMG to file yet another dismissal motion by a deadline of May 7.)
Experts tell Rolling Stone the bar is high for Drake to succeed with his lawsuit. Either way, industry watchers say, the court battle plays a dual role as a public relations gambit after Drake lost his nine-track rap battle with Lamar last May.
