Drakes blunt response as judge dismisses defamation | Music News

Drake had a moderately blunt response to his dismissed defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled Thursday that the statements in Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor Not Like Us have been “non-actionable opinion,” shielding them under the First Amendment.

The monitor, aimed at Drake, grew to become the middle of the hottest rap beef in the twenty first century.

Drake filed the lawsuit in late 2024, accusing UMG of knowingly distributing and selling Lamar’s monitor despite its accusations that the rapper had inappropriate relations with minors.

He didn’t identify Lamar straight in the go well with.

Responding to the go well with’s final result, Drake alluded that the legal battle shouldn’t be over.

“We intend to appeal today’s ruling, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it,” a spokesperson for Drake told Daily Express US.

In a court doc, Judge Vargas acknowledged the heated nature of the lyrics but concluded that no cheap listener would interpret them as a literal fact.

“Not Like Us is replete with profanity, trash-talking, threats of violence, and figurative and hyperbolic language, all of which are indicia of opinion,” Vargas wrote.

She added that “a rap diss track would not create more of an expectation in the average listener that the lyrics state sober facts.”