Will the NFL Stop Kendrick Lamar From Dissing Drake?

What’s Drake going to do about the Super Bowl? The Canadian rapper just launched a blockbuster defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” a diss track that disparages Drake as, among other things, a “certified pedophile.” In less than three weeks, Lamar is slated to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, where he’s expected to perform “Not Like Us” in front of 65,000 fans in New Orleans and 100 million-plus watching on TV. Could Drake attempt to push the NFL and Fox to prevent Lamar from performing the song?  

That’s hard to say. Theoretically, repeating something false qualifies as a republication, and if the NFL, Fox, or the halftime show’s producer, Jay Z’s Roc Nation, gave Lamar the microphone to tell new audiences about Drake’s supposed sins, they could be as potentially liable as UMG. (Especially now that Drake has made everyone aware of the falsity of the statements, if they are indeed false.) However, Drake’s endgame here is… murky. It’s unlikely he’s after a payout—he’s already loaded, and the lawsuit only amplifies Lamar’s insult. Meanwhile, both Drake and Lamar have record deals with UMG units: Lamar with Interscope, Drake with Republic. Some speculate that Drake might be aiming to wiggle out of his record deal, although this would be a strange way to do it. Quite a few lawyers have emphasized to me that Drake’s lawsuit is targeting only Lamar’s label, not Lamar directly. The decision to not go after the speaker most responsible for the trash talk seems… calculated.