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Drake’s Lawsuit Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Dismissed by Judge
A federal judge on Thursday (Oct. 9) dismissed Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” ruling that a “war of words” during a “heated rap battle” did not violate the law and that some of the case was “logically incoherent.”
Drake’s case, filed earlier this year, claimed that UMG defamed him by releasing Lamar’s scathing diss track, which tarred his arch-rival as a “certified pedophile.” He believed that millions of people took that lyric literally, severely harming his reputation.
But just 10 months later, Judge Jeannette Vargas granted UMG’s motion to dismiss the case at the outset — ruling that Kendrick’s insulting lyrics were the kind of “hyperbole” that cannot be defamatory because listeners would not think they were statements of fact.
“The artists’ seven-track rap battle was a ‘war of words’ that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse,” the judge wrote. “Although the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff.”
The ruling marks an abrupt end to a legal battle that stunned the music industry. Few expected a rapper to respond to a diss track with a lawsuit — a move that drew ridicule in the hip-hop world and condemnation from legal scholars. Fewer still expected him to file it against UMG, his longtime record label and the biggest music company in the world.
www.billboard.com
A federal judge on Thursday (Oct. 9) dismissed Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” ruling that a “war of words” during a “heated rap battle” did not violate the law and that some of the case was “logically incoherent.”
Drake’s case, filed earlier this year, claimed that UMG defamed him by releasing Lamar’s scathing diss track, which tarred his arch-rival as a “certified pedophile.” He believed that millions of people took that lyric literally, severely harming his reputation.
But just 10 months later, Judge Jeannette Vargas granted UMG’s motion to dismiss the case at the outset — ruling that Kendrick’s insulting lyrics were the kind of “hyperbole” that cannot be defamatory because listeners would not think they were statements of fact.
“The artists’ seven-track rap battle was a ‘war of words’ that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse,” the judge wrote. “Although the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff.”
The ruling marks an abrupt end to a legal battle that stunned the music industry. Few expected a rapper to respond to a diss track with a lawsuit — a move that drew ridicule in the hip-hop world and condemnation from legal scholars. Fewer still expected him to file it against UMG, his longtime record label and the biggest music company in the world.
Drake’s Lawsuit Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Dismissed by Judge
Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us" has been dismissed by a federal judge.
www.billboard.com
