Drake filed an appeal after his lawsuit against Universal Music Group for alleged defamation over Kendrick Lamar’s song “Not Like Us” was dismissed by a federal judge last year.
In court documents filed on Wednesday, Jan. 21, attorneys for the Canadian musician, 39, argued that the judge’s dismissal was “dangerous” and set a precedent that rap can’t be defamatory.
A federal judge in New York City dismissed the suit in October 2025, stating in a ruling obtained by PEOPLE that the “vitriolic war of words” used in Lamar’s diss track during a “heated rap battle” was not defamatory.
In May 2024, Lamar, 38, released “Not Like Us” as the two artists were engaged in a public feud. Lamar’s single refers to Drake as a “certified pedophile” who should be “placed on neighborhood watch.”
Drake’s attorneys argue in Wednesday’s filing “millions of people understood [the song] to convey factual information, causing countless individuals around the globe to believe that Drake was a pedophile.”
His lawyers argued that the judge created an “unprecedented” and “dangerous” precedent by ruling that lyrics in rap songs can’t be considered defamatory.
“The court effectively created an unprecedented and overbroad categorical rule that statements in rap diss tracks can never constitute statements of fact,” the court documents state.
“… If rap diss tracks cannot contain statements of fact, then they are inoculated from any liability for defamation—no matter how direct and damaging the defamatory statements they contain,” attorney Michael J. Gottlieb wrote in one filing. “This case illustrates that.”
“It is hard to imagine a statement more damaging to one’s reputation and safety than being labeled a ‘certified pedophile,’ which elicits intense vitriol, and can spur violent retaliation,” Gottlieb continued. “The court’s rule brushes aside the risk of concrete reputational harms that can and here, did spill over into violence.”
When the suit was dismissed in October, Judge Jeannette Vargas wrote in her decision that Lamar’s lyrics were not defamatory.
“Although the accusation that [Drake] is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, 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,” Vargas wrote.
Soon after, Drake’s attorneys said they planned to appeal the ruling.
“We intend to appeal today’s ruling, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it,” a representative for Drake said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.
Lamar’s Super Bowl performance came after Drake initially sued UMG in January for releasing and promoting the song, claiming the label, to which he’s been signed for more than a decade, “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him.”
“Drake has never engaged in any acts that would require he be ‘placed on neighborhood watch.’ Drake has never engaged in sexual relations with a minor,” the document alleged. “Drake has never been charged with, or convicted of, any criminal acts whatsoever.”
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At the time, UMG called the allegations “untrue” and “illogical,” and in March, filed a motion to dismiss the suit, stating Drake “lost a rap battle he provoked” and “sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”
A legal battle ensued soon after. In a previous filing obtained by PEOPLE in March, Drake’s attorneys refuted UMG’s claims that Lamar’s lyrics were mere opinion and alleged that “UMG completely ignores the Complaint’s allegations that millions of people, all over the world, did understand [the song] as a factual assertion that [Drake] is a pedophile.”
UMG then filed motions to stay discovery and dismiss the case. In a court document obtained by PEOPLE, UMG alleged that the label has “presented substantial arguments that Drake’s claims should be dismissed in their entirety,” including the fact that they say “Not Like Us” “conveys nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole, not fact.”
In her ruling, Vargas called Drake’s claims “logically incoherent” that “Not Like Us” was defamatory because UMG heavily promoted the song.
The judge also noted that Drake had used similar content in his own music, quoting his diss track “Family Matters,” in which he “heavily [implies] that Lamar is a domestic abuser” and that “one of Lamar’s sons may not be biologically his.”
“The recording was published as part of a heated public feud, in which both participants exchanged progressively caustic, inflammatory insults and accusations,” Vargas said. “This is precisely the type of context in which an audience may anticipate the use of epithets, fiery rhetoric or hyperbole rather than factual assertions.”