Universal Music Group demands dismissal of Drake’s legal action
Universal Music Group is demanding the dismissal of Drake‘s legal petition which was filed in Texas last year. The Toronto rapper put forward two petitions, one against Universal and Spotify and another against UMG and iHeartMedia. After Drizzy dropped the first petition for an actual lawsuit, the record company wants the second one thrown out completely.
UMG filed a 144-page motion to dismiss in Bexar County, Texas, on January 23rd, arguing that Drake lacks evidence regarding his defamation over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’.
“Because [Drake’s] petition is related to and was filed in response to UMG’s protected free speech, and because [Drake] cannot carry his burden to establish by clear and specific evidence that he is entitled to pre-suit discovery, the Court should dismiss [Drake’s] retaliatory legal action against UMG,” the filing states.
“[Drake] provides nothing outside of his verified petition, which alone cannot provide an evidentiary basis for a petition. Even looking into the petition […] there is no evidentiary support for his asserted need for pre-suit deposition of UMG.”
Universal went on to mention iHeartMedia regarding his payola claims. “Petitioner [Drake] requests to depose both iHeartMedia and UMG to investigate the relationship between iHeartMedia and UMG,” the filing reads.
“But Petitioner does not describe why a deposition of both iHeartMedia’s corporate representative and of UMG’s corporate representative would be necessary to investigate any alleged agreement between iHeartMedia and UMG respecting ‘Not Like Us.'”
The lawsuit continues, “Without such explanation, Petitioner has failed to establish any likely benefit of a pre-suit deposition of UMG, let alone show that the benefits outweigh the burdens.” A hearing is scheduled for January 28th to decide whether Drake can depose employees of UMG and iHeartMedia for a future lawsuit.
After filing the petitions in November, Drake sued UMG for defamation and harassment this month over comments made by Kendrick on his hit diss track, ‘Not Like Us’. He alleged that Universal, who they are both signed to, was aware that the paedophile claims were defamatory yet still chose to release the record.
Drizzy’s suit 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.”