Drake’s Legal Team Is Confident Lawsuit Will Move Forward Because UMG Is “Greedy” & “Desperate”
Drake’s legal counsel has swiftly responded to Universal Music Group’s (UMG) motion to dismiss his lawsuit over his claims regarding Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track.
On Monday (March 17), AllHipHop obtained a statement from Drake’s lead attorney Michael Gottlieb pushing back on the 32-page legal document UMG filed in which it categorized Drake’s lawsuit as an “unfounded complaint.”
In the explosively stern, yet concise, statement Gottlieb released in response, the lawyer outright called out UMG for attempting to “distract” shareholders and others from their true actions. In doing so, Gottlieb described UMG as a “greedy” company profiting from misinformation and accused the company of causing far more serious conflicts, as a result.
“UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: a greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence,” Gottlieb’s statement reads in part.
As the statement continues, Gottlieb claims UMG is “desperate” and brazenly boasts the “confidence” Drake’s legal team has that the lawsuit will continue to move forward.
“This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists,” the statement concludes.
UMG’s legal filing moving to dismiss Drake’s lawsuit follows the Canadian MC agreeing to to scale back portions of the suit, last month. Drake initially accused UMG of inflating the song’s success using artificial streaming tactics, bots and other actions he claims not only tarnished his reputation but also put his safety at risk in the wake of Kendrick branding him a “certified pedophile.” However, in accordance with UMG’s legal team’s lead attorney Rollin A. Ransom, the label previously formally requested that a hearing regarding the lawsuit scheduled for April 2, 2025, be postponed, due to their plans to file a motion to dismiss by March 17.
In the introductory of the 32-page legal filing, UMG wasted no time in addressing what they see as an unfounded complaint.
“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” the motion states. “Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”