Drake’s attorneys have filed a reply brief for their appeal and said that the judge’s handling of the dismissal was a ‘reversible error’ after ruling in favor of Universal Music Group (UMG) in the rapper’s defamation lawsuit.
According to Music Business Worldwide, the filing with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was presented
on April 17. Attorneys argued that Judge Jeannette Vargas improperly dismissed the “Hotline Bling” rapper’s suit against UMG, which released Kendrick Lamar’s diss record, “Not Like Us.”Drake’s lawyers from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP wrote: “[T]he District Court relied heavily on matters outside the pleadings, weighed the evidence, made adverse factual findings contradicting well-pleaded facts, and improperly drew inferences against Drake.”
“UMG repeats the Court’s errors, largely glossing over the allegations in the Amended Complaint and focusing instead on its own version of the ‘facts’ and ‘evidence’ from outside the pleadings.”
They also cited that the judge
should have converted UMG’s motion to dismiss, “into one for summary judgment… But it failed to do that, too.” Adding that Drake never got the opportunity to contest the evidence and reveal what he had found during the early stages of discovery.The recent filing followed two separate groups of scholars’ amicus briefs filed
on April 3 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in support of Drake’s appeal in the defamation lawsuit against UMG Recordings. The scholars agreed with the judge’s decision, siding with the distribution label and arguing that the Kendrick Lamar song, “Not Like Us,” constitutes protected opinion rather than actionable defamation, and that the Canadian artist’s appeal should be denied.UMG’s earlier response to the case accused Drake of hypocrisy: “He intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous, back-and-forth rap battles… He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression.”
Drake initially filed a defamation lawsuit against the label that distributes his recordings in January 2025, which was dismissed in October 2025, leading the recording artist to appeal the judge’s ruling in January 2026.
RELATED CONTENT: FanArcade Launches ‘Release The Iceman’ For Drake Fans