Drake Has Settled Legal Dispute With iHeartMedia in "Not Like Us" Lawsuit
The claims against UMG still remains active.
Drake has officially dropped the the lawsuit against iHeartMedia. The Toronto rapper has settled his legal dispute with iHeartMedia, after filing a legal petition.
The petition still names Universal Music Group — Drizzy’s label, wherein the artist claims that UMG executed “irregular and inappropriate business practices” to get Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us” more air time on the radio. Both Lamar and Drake are signed to UMG and Drake is alleging that the management company made more payments known as a payola, to iHeartMedia for the additional airtime. The petition goes on to allege that UMG knew “the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts.” The petition continued, “Specifically, the song calls Drake a ‘certified pedophile,’ a ‘predator,’ and someone whose name should ‘be registered and placed on neighborhood watch.’”
Drake’s legal team said in a statement in regards to the iHeartMedia settlement, “We are pleased that the parties were able to reach a settlement satisfactory to both sides, and have no further comment on this matter.” The Federal Communications Commission is currently investigating iHeartMedia for a different set of payola claims. Drake has filed multiple legal actions in the rap beef with Kendrick. While the suit does not name Kendrick as a defendant, Drizzy has claimed taht UMG has deliberately move to make him look like “a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse.” The suit said, “UMG may spin this complaint as a rap beef gone legal, but this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists. It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
