Drake filed an amended defamation complaint in April, and as anticipated, his label, Universal Music Group, has filed a move to dismiss the case.
In January, Drake brought his first lawsuit against UMG, alleging that the label purposefully engaged in defamatory behavior by promoting Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us.” A move to dismiss was filed by UMG in March. Drake’s legal team filed an additional complaint last month, focusing on developments since the first filing. They said that UMG deliberately negotiated and marketed “Not Like Us” through Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance and agreed to have the song played at the 2025 Grammy Awards.
UMG filed to dismiss the modified case on Wednesday, addressing the more current allegations in the new complaint while mainly preserving the grounds from the initial motion. The company’s attorney started off by saying that Drake “removed obviously false factual allegations” from his amended complaint and that the “new allegations are astonishing.”
In the 33-page document Variety reviewed, UMG elaborates on several of the points raised in their first move to dismiss. According to the company’s attorney, Drake “cherry-picked” anonymous internet comments to support his defamation claim, arguing that they showed that listeners saw “Not Like Us” as fact rather than art or exaggeration.
