Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar diss dismissed

American rapper, Drake, has lost his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

The Canadian artist had sued Universal Music Group, accusing it of publishing and promoting the Grammy-winning track in which Lamar controversially labelled him a ‘certified pedophile’.

Drake alleged that the track tarnished his reputation and affected the value of his brand.

However, a US district judge ruled that the song was an expression of opinion, not a statement of fact, and therefore did not meet the legal standard for defamation.

The judge labelled the remarks as a ‘non-actionable opinion’, and noted the context of the forum in which the insults appeared.

Drake and Lamar have been locked in a high-profile feud, trading barbs in a series of diss tracks over recent months.

Some of the insults on the diss tracks were about shoe size and fashion sense.

A spokesperson for Drake said in a statement that they intend to appeal the ruling.

Drake losing a rap beef on the charts, streets, and in court pic.twitter.com/aZ68afL2Eq

— Zito (@_Zeets) October 9, 2025

Wasted everyone’s time, Drake ruined his reputation even further, and kept the beef alive for a lot longer than it needed to be. What an idiot lol https://t.co/UFTnVdGYxC pic.twitter.com/7XJpDMaIGF

— Bino (@AnimeGuru100) October 9, 2025

The Judge listened to Kendrick and Drake’s tracks and said….. pic.twitter.com/SdExiQpw3I

— MS.JAZZY (@MsJazzybelle) October 9, 2025

All drake had to do was take that L against Kendrick and go on with his day pic.twitter.com/I58fMlS1b5

— . (@glogangvry) October 10, 2025

anyone who thinks his image is damaged, were people who never liked Drake anyway

The lawsuit was most likely to try to get them to settle by giving him his masters prior to 2018, legal fees are pennies compared to what his masters are worth.. so why not take a shot at it?

— Dr. Manhattan (@liitup7) October 10, 2025