Kendrick Lamar warned against defaming Drake during Super Bowl performance
Kendrick Lamar will headline the Super Bowl LVI halftime show at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 9th. Aside from the game itself, which will see the Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles, much of the discussion has been around K.Dot potentially dissing Drake on the biggest stage of them all.
The Compton rapper landed a number-one single last year with his Drizzy diss track ‘Not Like Us‘. In the song, Kendrick accused him of being a “certified paedophile” and that he should be on “neighbourhood watch,” among other vicious lines.
Earlier this month, Drake sued Universal Music Group for defamation, claiming the label “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.”
Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, renowned criminal defence attorney Ken White warned Kendrick against performing ‘Not Like Us’ at halftime. “I’m a defence lawyer, so of course I’m going to say, ‘Guys, don’t do this. It’s just going to give me a headache,'” he said. “I’m sure every general counsel with the network or the NFL is saying, ‘No, for the love of God, don’t do it.'”
He added, “But the halftime show has always been willing to showcase stuff that is somewhat edgy. So I don’t really know how they’ll play it, but if I were an in-house counsel, I’d be telling them not to do it.”
Despite his comments, he admitted that Kendrick doesn’t face many risks due to the fact that he wasn’t named in the Universal lawsuit. “There’s a risk, but it appears to be low because of the way that Drake has decided to do this,” he said. “He very deliberately went after UMG, and said this isn’t about Kendrick.
“It was more like, ‘I don’t want to pick a fight with Kendrick, I only want to pick a fight with UMG.’ All he would be able to do is say, ‘UMG promoted this song at the Super Bowl, their hands got Kendrick Lamar the gig.'”
On the other hand, Drake won’t even be in the country during the Super Bowl due to his shows in Australia throughout February.