According to Pitchfork.com, Drake has filed an opening appellate brief seeking to overturn the ruling in his original lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), Rolling Stone reports. In October, federal judge dismissed the rapper’s alleged defamation suit, which allegedly sought damages from the label for promoting Kendrick Lamar’s incendiary diss track “Not Like Us.”
In the 60-page filing obtained by Pitchfork, Drake’s attorneys allegedly called the original dismissal “erroneous” and again allege that UMG “promoted ‘Not Like Us’ while knowing that the song’s insinuations that he has sexual relations with minors were false and defamatory.” Drake filed his initial lawsuit against UMG in January 2025, by claiming the music corporation allegedly “waged an unrelenting campaign” to promote “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar’s famous diss song that he believed to be allegedly defamatory.
UMG had asked for the complaint’s dismissal by arguing that Drake allegedly “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated.” Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ostensibly agreed with UMG by ruling that “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.”
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