Drake has filed one more legal complaint against UMG, this time accusing the major label of defamation and claiming it could have halted the release of a song “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.”
The new filing, filed late Monday and made public on Tuesday, claims UMG “funneled payments” to iHeart Radio as part of a “pay-to-play scheme” to promote Kendrick Lamar’s hit song ‘Not Like Us’ on radio.
In the complaint, the Toronto superstar says UMG knew that Kendrick’s song “falsely” accused him of being a “certified pedophile” and “predator” but chose to not stop it from release.
“UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” Drake’s lawyers write. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
Just like the first complaint yesterday where Drake accused UMG of licensing ‘Not Like Us’ at lower rate to Spotify to boost streams, this one isn’t a proper lawsuit but a pre-action filing aimed taking depositions from key figures at UMG and iHeart in order to obtain more information that might support Drake’s accusations in a future lawsuit, reports Billboard.
The new filing in Texas is another unexpected turn in events surrounding the much publicized beef between Kendrick and Drake which has consumed music fans all over the world this year.
It’s also a sign that all is not well between Drizzy and UMG which has been his label home since start if his career, first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, then by doing a direct deal with Republic.