Universal Music Group is warning Drake to “be careful what you wish for” after he filed a 107-page amendment to his defamation lawsuit against the record company this week. The company hit back at the Toronto rapper in a statement obtained by Music Business Worldwide on Thursday.
In their statement, UMG began by suggesting that Drake’s legal team is manipulating him. “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,” they wrote.
The company continued: "In Texas last November, his counsel instituted a legal proceeding with much fanfare and bluster. On Monday, they quietly dropped the case. In New York in January, Drake’s counsel filed a defamation lawsuit." They then claimed that Drake and his team are afraid of facing sanctions. "Two weeks ago, his representatives celebrated a ‘win’: the granting of a routine discovery motion," they added. "That ‘win’ will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’"
"Both the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and creative expression," UMG concluded. "Should his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success."
Drake's UMG Lawsuit
With his new amendment, Drake used the Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime Show to suggest that UMG was aware of the defamatory nature of the diss track "Not Like Us." His legal team argued that, by the censoring of the word "pedophile" for the television broadcast, both the league and UMG were aware it was defamatory.
The filing also brings up the Grammys, where Kendrick Lamar took home multiple awards for the hit song. Drake's team argues that the Grammys’ YouTube page cut a moment where the crowd sang the lyrics when they uploaded clips from the ceremony.
