A federal judge on Thursday dismissed the defamation lawsuit Drake brought against his own record label, Universal Music Group, for publishing and promoting Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”
District Judge Jeannette Vargas concluded that the Grammy-winning song – where Lamar infamously claimed Drake was a “certified pedophile” – was an expression of pure opinion and not an assertion of facts. Therefore, Drake, who denied the allegation, couldn’t sue for defamation.
Drake did not sue Lamar, who was not accused of wrongdoing.
The ruling means Drake’s case against UMG is now over, though he can appeal the decision.
“We intend to appeal today’s ruling, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it,” a spokesperson for Drake told CNN on Thursday night.
The ruling is a major victory for UMG, which has insisted from the beginning that the case was “frivolous” and “illogical.” (Drake sued UMG because Lamar is an Interscope Records artist, which is a division of UMG. Drake’s current label is Republic Records, which is also part of UMG.)
“From the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day,” a UMG spokesperson said on Thursday. “We’re pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake’s music and investing in his career.”
The judge determined that Lamar’s “offensive” accusations against Drake were protected expression of opinion. Her 38-page ruling included a line-by-line breakdown of lyrics from the songs Drake and Lamar released last year at the height of their feud, where Drake and Lamar traded increasingly personal and unverified insults in a series of songs.
“The average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public fact-checked verifiable content,” Vargas wrote.
The judge also said, “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 Drake.
Drake filed the lawsuit in January, and the case was in the evidence-gathering stage known as discovery before the judge threw out the lawsuit Thursday.
“Not Like Us” went on to win multiple Grammys earlier this year and was also featured as part of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance in February.
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