Conan O’Brien jokes about Drake allegations at Oscars ceremony
The Oscars didn’t come and go without someone making a joke at Drake‘s expense. The 97th Academy Awards took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 2nd and saw host Conan O’Brien targeting Drizzy over Kendrick Lamar’s paedophile allegations.
Last month, Kendrick headlined the Super Bowl halftime show, performing his diss tracks against Drake, ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Not Like Us’. The latter song, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, makes various allegations about the Toronto rapper with young girls.
Kendrick smiled into the camera during the performance and said, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.” Although he didn’t call Drake a paedophile outright, the crowd sang along when he rapped, “Tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor.”
At the Oscars, O’Brien decided to make light of the situation on stage during the middle of the ceremony. “Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a paedophile,” he said, which received both laughter and groans from the audience. He added, “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up.”
The lawyer joke was fitting, given the fact Drake sued his label, Universal Music Group, for harassment over ‘Not Like Us’. Drizzy’s lawsuit claimed UMG “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
Kendrick also referenced Drake’s legal action while teasing the song at the Super Bowl, telling those in New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome, “I want to perform their favourite song, but you know they love to sue.”
Drake denied the paedophilia allegations on ‘The Heart Part 6‘, rapping in the song, “I never been with no one underage but now I understand why this the angle that you really mess with/ Just for clarity, I feel disgusted, I’m too respected/ If I was fucking young girls, I promise I’d a been arrested/ I’m way too famous for this shit you just suggested.”