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A federal judge dismissed the rapper’s defamation claim against Universal Music Group in October.
Drake. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed Drake’s defamation case against his label, Universal Music Group (UMG). Today, Pitchfork reports that the Canadian rapper filed a notice to appeal the decision on October 29.
Drake’s spokesperson confirmed the news in an email to The FADER. “This confirms our intent to appeal, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing that filing in the coming weeks.”
Drake first filed the lawsuit in January 2025 alleging that UMG engaged in defamation with its promotion of the Drake-targeting diss track “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, another UMG artist. The song was one of the final songs released in the summer 2024 back-and-forth between the feuding rappers and was the most successful, selling millions of copies and winning five Grammys. It was also Lamar’s climatic song during his widely-viewed Super Bowl performance.
“Not Like Us,” Drake’s lawsuit claimed, was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a pedophile.” Universal fiercely denied all of the claims as “untrue” and “illogical.”
“Throughout his career,” UMG said in their response, “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. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from [Universal] for distributing that artist’s music.”
This week, Drake and streamer Adin Ross were named alongside sweepstakes platform Stake in a class action lawsuit and accused of promoting illegal gambling in the state of Missouri.
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