Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: NFL, Super Bowl
Jack Kenmare
Drake's legal team issued a statement about his ongoing legal battle over Kendrick Lamar's diss track, just hours before the song was performed in front of millions at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Lamar, who previously featured on Buried Alive Interlude from Drake's 2011 classic Take Care, performed in the middle of the Kansas City Chiefs versus Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday evening.
He performed 11 songs across his 13-minute set, including Squabble Up, Man At The Garden, and All The Stars featuring American singer-songwriter SZA.
But it was the performance of Not Like Us – the Grammy-winning track that continues to cause controversy because of its references to Canadian rapper Drake – that brought the most reaction.
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In this song, Lamar makes reference to Drake's 2021 album as he says: "Certified Lover Boy? Certified p**ophile."
During the much-talked-about Super Bowl appearance, Lamar decided to change some of the more explicit lyrics in his track, taking out the word "pe**phile" as well as some other lyrics.
He said: "Say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any b**ch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil' sister from him / They tell me Chubbs the only one that get your hand-me-downs / And Party at the party playin' with his nose now / And Baka got a weird case, why is he around? / Certified Lover Boy? Certified (missed out 'p**dophiles' lyric)."
Following the release of Not Like Us, Drake sued Universal Music Group (UMG) – which represents both Drake and Lamar – for defamation and harassment.
Lamar is not named in the lawsuit, but the filing accuses Universal of choosing 'chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists' by releasing and promoting the track despite allegedly knowing the accusations about pedophilia were false.
The suit claims Universal 'approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track', which was 'intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response'.
On Sunday, just hours before Lamar took to the stage in New Orleans, Drake's team shared a new statement on the case.
They said: "UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world.
"We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”
In a statement responding the accusations made in Drake's lawsuit, UMG told The Independent: “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.
"We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”