Drake Alleges Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance Was Meant to Damage His Reputation

Canadian rapper Drake has filed an updated legal complaint against Universal Music Group (UMG), claiming that Kendrick Lamar’s performance at the Super Bowl and his recent Grammy wins were used to further defame and damage his public image.

In a lawsuit filed this week in a federal court in New York, Drake accused UMG – parent label to both artists under different divisions – of intentionally promoting Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us” as part of a broader effort to tarnish his reputation. The track, which gained massive attention during their headline-making rap feud in 2024, contains accusations branding Drake as a “certified pedophile” and a “predator.”

Drake originally filed the suit in January, asserting that UMG helped push a “false and malicious narrative” by promoting the song, which soared to the top of the charts. In the newly amended complaint, his legal team argues that Lamar’s high-profile Super Bowl halftime performance and Grammy wins only amplified the alleged defamation.

“The Super Bowl and the Grammys are prestigious, high-exposure events that introduced new listeners to the defamatory material,” Drake’s legal team stated in the court filing. “Following these events, streams of the song spiked – and so did the volume of threats made against Drake and his family.”

Although Lamar omitted the word “pedophile” during his Super Bowl performance, Drake’s attorneys maintain that the damage had already been done. The show was seen by more than 133 million people, according to data from The Associated Press.

UMG responded to the original lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, calling Drake’s claims an attempt to “save face” after losing the rap battle to Lamar in the public eye.

Kendrick Lamar walked away with five Grammy Awards in February, just a week before his widely acclaimed Super Bowl appearance — developments that Drake believes were weaponized to reinforce a damaging portrayal of him.

The legal dispute adds a new dimension to what was already one of hip-hop’s most explosive rivalries in recent years, and now pulls the music industry’s biggest institutions deeper into the controversy.