Drake v/s UMG legal battle: Music group addresses viral Kendrick Lamar “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophile" lyric diss at Super Bowl 2025

Universal Music Group (UMG) has reportedly responded to Canadian rapper Aubrey Drake Graham's lawsuit against them. According to the Guardian, the One Dance singer had reportedly expanded his lawsuit against UMG in April. He alleged that the record label had supported Kendrick Lamar's performance of Not Like Us during the 2025 Super Bowl performance, which included the lyric,

“Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young … certified lover boy? Certified paedophile."

In a statement secured by The Mirror, UMG has written in a motion about Lamar's performance. The label noted that Lamar's performance,

“did not include the lyric that Drake or his associates are ‘certified pedophiles’ (i.e., the alleged ‘Defamatory Material’ that is at the heart of this case)."

They claimed that the "focus" of Aubrey's,

"new claims that the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime show ever’ did not hear Lamar call he or his crew pedophile betrays the case for what it is."

Drake v/s UMG legal battle: Music group responds to the former's lawsuit

UMG has reportedly clapped back at Drake's lawsuit against them and claimed that the singer's attack is on "Lamar's commercial and creative success" rather than "the content of Lamar’s lyrics."

They clapped back,

“Nowhere in the hundred-plus page ‘legal’ blather written by his lawyers do they bother to acknowledge that he himself has written and performed massively successful songs containing equally provocative taunts against other artists."

The representatives reportedly noted that the Canadian singer fails to acknowledge that he "engages in the same form of creative expression." According to the Indian Express, the singers were not in attendance during the court hearing on June 30. While the God's Plan singer's battle with iHeartRadio for similar reasons was resolved previously in March, he continues to battle it out with UMG.

UMG has previously described "diss tracks as protected speech" and has slammed the Canadian rapper's lawsuit. The music label is responding to claims of defamation and claims that his "attacks" are not linked to the Not Like Us' lyrics but to Kendrick Lamar's "commercial success."

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