Drake adds Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance to defamation lawsuit

Hip hop superstar Drake is now complaining about rival rapper Kendrick Lamar's performance of “Not Like Us” at this year's Super Bowl, adding it to his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the diss track and its allegations of pedophilia against Drake.

“The Recording was performed during the 2025 Super Bowl and broadcast to the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime 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," says the amended lawsuit filed on April 16 in federal court in Manhattan.

Although Lamar removed the word “pedophile” that's in the track during the halftime show, the fact that it was omitted showed that “nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory,” the suit says. It also alleges Universal Music used financial benefits and leveraged business relationships to secure the headliner spot for Lamar at the Super Bowl, and promoted the performance.

This year's Super Bowl and its halftime show were the most-watched ever, according to Nielsen.

In a statement responding to the court filing, Universal Music, the parent record label of both artists, continued to deny Drake's allegations.

“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 company said.

A spokesperson for Drake said in a prepared release that the artist is “holding the largest music conglomerate in the world accountable for its actions and doing so without fear.”

The amended lawsuit also adds that defamatory portions of “Not Like Us" were played at the Grammy Awards in February, when the single won five awards, including song and record of the year. The suit claims that Universal Music also helped secure the Grammy nominations and allowed the song to be played at the ceremony.

Drake sued Universal Music, but not Lamar, for undisclosed damages in January, saying the company published and promoted “Not Like Us” despite its false pedophilia allegations and suggestions that listeners should resort to vigilante justice.

The result, the suit says, was intruders shooting a security guard at Drake’s Toronto home and two attempted break-ins there, online hate and harassment, a hit to his reputation and a decrease in his brand’s value before his contract renegotiation with UMG this year.