Texas-based iHeartMedia said it settled its legal dispute with Drake over Kendrick Lamar’s dis track “Not Like Us” after demonstrating that it “did nothing wrong.”
Drake had alleged in a legal petition filed in November that iHeartMedia received illegal payments from Universal Music Group to boost radio airplay for “Not Like Us.” UMG is the parent record label for both Drake and Lamar.
San Antonio-based iHeartMedia initially declined to comment on the settlement, which was revealed last week in court documents. The media company released an updated statement Saturday.
“In exchange for documents that showed iHeart did nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition. No payments were made — by either one of us,” the statement said.
A representative for Drake disputed iHeart’s statement Tuesday, saying the company “has not provided a single document as of yet to Drake, let alone any information that showed they did nothing wrong.”
“This back and forth is silly. Drake dropped the petition. We did nothing wrong. End of story,” iHeartMedia said in a statement late Tuesday.
In a court document filed Thursday in Bexar County, where San Antonio is located, attorneys for Drake said the rapper and iHeartMedia had “reached an amicable resolution of the dispute” but did not offer any other information.
The dismissal of iHeartMedia from the petition was done “with prejudice,” meaning Drake would not be able to refile the petition against the company.
A hearing on a motion by UMG’s lawyers to dismiss Drake’s petition had been set for Wednesday but was changed to March 24, according to court records filed this week.
Drake’s petition in Texas also alleges UMG knew “the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.”
Besides the legal petition in Texas, Drake in January filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court in New York City against UMG over what he alleges are false allegations of pedophilia made in “Not Like Us.” Lamar is not named in the lawsuit.
On Tuesday, a judge overseeing the defamation lawsuit rejected a request from UMG to delay a pretrial hearing and put a pause on discovery, which is the exchange of evidence between the two sides. UMG had sought the delay until a judge could hear its request to dismiss the case.
Drake’s lawyers said in a statement that they were “pleased with the Court’s decision to reject UMG’s continued attempts to stall discovery — another clear sign that UMG cannot run from or bury the truth.”
UMG’s lawyers did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The feud between Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 9, is among the biggest in hip-hop in recent years.
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