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Universal Music Group (UMG) has responded to Drake's lawsuit with a motion of their own. The music and entertainment company — that signed Drake in 2009 via Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment — is fighting back against claims that the label defamed him by releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar's diss track aimed at the Canadian rapper, “Not Like Us.”
In November 2024, Drake filed two petitions against UMG — one in Texas and one in New York. The New York petition was against Spotify and UMG which accused the two companies of working together in order to defame him with the promotion of “Not Like Us.” Drake withdrew the New York petition so he could file a lawsuit, but the Texas petition is still active.
UMG claims that the promotion of “Not Like Us” as well as the release, is protected under the First Amendment which allows freedom of speech and is requesting for Drake's petition to be dismissed and for the rapper to cover their legal fees.
“Because [Drake’s] petition is related to and was filed in response to UMG’s protected free speech, and because [Drake] cannot carry his burden to establish by clear and specific evidence that he is entitled to pre-suit discovery, the Court should dismiss [Drake’s] retaliatory legal action against UMG,” the filing reads per Variety.
“[Drake] provides nothing outside of his verified petition, which alone cannot provide an evidentiary basis for a petition,” UMG continues. “Even looking into the petition […] there is no evidentiary support for his asserted need for pre-suit deposition of UMG.”
As for the evidence that the rapper submitted, UMG states that “these claims from unnamed, unidentified out-of-court declarants are hearsay and are not admissible as evidence.”
UMG also claims that Drake “has resorted to strategic legal retaliation against UMG and others, in an apparent effort to pressure them to limit the distribution of ‘Not Like Us.'”
Moving forward, Drake and his legal team are trying to pursue employees of UMG, as well as iHeartMedia for a lawsuit in the future. A hearing for UMG and Drake is scheduled for January 28 to determine if he is allowed.
Drake Names Popular Streamers In UMG Lawsuit
Not only has Spotify been looped into the lawsuit but so have popular content creators. Drake claims that the streamers were able to profit off of “Not Like Us” since UMG did not enforce a copyright on the song which allowed millions of the content creator's fans to continue sharing the false sentiment that he is a pedophile.
Some of the streamers named in the suit are Kai Cenat, RDC Gaming, Cartier Family, NoLifeShaq, and Zias.
NoLifeShaq reacted to the news in a 10-minute video titled: “DRAKE SNITCHED ON ME!”
In the video, he says, “This n***a Drake done snitched on the reaction community! N***a we chillin’, having fun, and you got us listed in a case? This gotta be the softest n***a ever, dog.”
Other content creators that were named in the suit also reacted to Canadian rapper's lawsuit including Zias jokingly calling a lawyer while on stream and saying that he is countersuing Drake for emotional distress.
Cenat, who is the most-subscribed streamer on Twitch and was named in the suit, has not responded publicly to Drake's claims.
