UMG issues dire warning to Drake amid expanded lawsuit
The rapper has been cautioned by his record label after making additional allegations
Things are getting ugly between Drake and his current record label, Universal Music Group (UMG).
On Wednesday, the rapper expanded his ongoing federal defamation lawsuit against the conglomerate with additional claims.
The updated filing now also alleges that Kendrick Lamar’s performance in the Super Bowl 59 halftime show damaged his reputation.
The 37-year-old infamously rapped Not Like Us back in February, which refers to Drake as a “pedophile.”
The court documents state: “[Not Like Us] was performed during the 2025 Super Bowl and broadcast to the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime show ever, over 133 million people, including millions of children, and millions more who had never before heard the song or any of the songs that preceded it. It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist.”
UMG responded to the latest allegation in an official statement issued to MBW by first acknowledging their long partnership with Drake but then suggesting that he has been “misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another.”
The statement referenced the 38-year-old’s initial lawsuit that claimed UMG and Spotify used “bots” to boost streaming figures of Lamar’s Not Like Us.
Drake withdrew the petition in January and filed a new one for defamation against UMG for allegedly promoting the diss track.
“Fearful of being sanctioned by the court for asserting false allegations, tonight they amended the complaint to withdraw them only to add more baseless allegations,” UMG said.
They also mentioned a ruling from earlier this month that dismissed UMG’s motion to pause discovery. “Two weeks ago, his representatives celebrated a 'win': the granting of a routine discovery motion.”
The music company continued, “That 'win' will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, 'be careful what you wish for.'”
The statement concluded by predicting that the legal battle will be “reputationally and financially costly to Drake.”
When will the Drake vs UMG trial begin?
The lawsuit filed by Drake’s legal representatives is currently in its initial stages, so the trial is expected to begin in summer of 2026. However, it is common in defamation cases for the two parties to reach a settlement before the trial.
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