Drake claims Kendrick performance was ‘orchestrated to assassinate’ his character

Rap superstar Drake has expanded his lawsuit against his own record label claiming rival artist Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance of the diss track Not Like Us exposed more people, including children, to allegations of paedophilia against him.

The two have been involved in a long-running feud that picked up in intensity last year with the pair exchanging increasingly personal diss tracks variously accusing each other of grooming, illegitimate children and violence against women, before it culminated with the release in May of Lamar’s Not Like Us.

Drake has added fresh new claims in his lawsuit against UMG, claiming rival rapper Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance defamed him.

The track included accusations of grooming, illegitimate children and violence against women and has been streamed almost 1.5 billion times on Spotify.

The truth of those or other allegations is not suggested.

Drake denied the allegations and in January sued Universal Music Group (UMG), the record company which represents both rappers, for defamation.

He claims the label had spread defamatory allegations that he’s a paedophile by making secret payments and offering reduced licensing rates to third parties to promote the song to devalue his music and brand amid contract negotiations.

This week Drake updated his complaint, claiming more people were duped into believing he was a paedophile after Lamar performed Not Like Us during the Super Bowl halftime show in February.

The incendiary hit is one of the biggest songs of Lamar’s career, sweeping five Grammys in February including song and record of the year. A week later, Lamar performed the track as part of the Super Bowl halftime show.

Drake said Lamar’s performance, which broke the record for the most watched Super Bowl halftime show in history with 133.5 million viewers, was “the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist”, in an amended defamation claim filed on Thursday (local time).

“The Recording was performed during the 2025 Super Bowl and broadcast to the largest audience for a Super Bowl half-time 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,” the lawsuit claimed.

Although Lamar omitted the word “paedophile”, which is used in the original track, during the halftime show, “nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory,” the suit says. The song also includes the lyric “Drake, I hear you like ’em young,” which Lamar sang at the performance.

The amended lawsuit also alleges UMG used financial benefits and leveraged business relationships to secure the headliner spot for Lamar at the Super Bowl, and promoted the performance.

Kendrick Lamar performed his Drake diss track during his Super Bowl performance.Credit: Getty Images

UMG said the accusations were baseless in a statement to CNN on Friday (local time).

“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed a 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” the record label said.

Serena Williams dances on stage during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show at the Super Bowl.Credit: AP

Just last month, the label filed a motion to dismiss the suit against it, arguing that the Canadian rapper’s claims were “no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle”.

The star had “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated”, it said in a court filing.

“Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”

Drakes legal move came the same week tennis extraordinaire Serena Williams addressed the commotion surrounding her crip walking onstage during Lamar’s Super Bowl performance. As Williams is Drake’s rumoured former love interest, many took her appearance onstage to be a direct shot at the Canadian rapper.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion said, “I don’t know if I regret it or not”, in an interview with Time magazine. “I don’t know the answer to that”.

So was Williams throwing shade at Drake? “Absolutely not,” she said.

“I would never do that. And that was sad that anyone would ever think that – I respect how they could. Obviously, I can see how someone would think that. But absolutely not. I have never had negative feelings towards him. We’ve known him for so many years,” Williams told Time.

UMG will have the opportunity to argue its motion to dismiss the amended lawsuit.

With AP, Reuters

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