iHeartMedia says legal dispute with Drake was settled because it ‘did nothing wrong’
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas-based iHeartMedia said it settled its legal dispute with Drake over Kendrick Lamar’s diss 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 that was revealed last week in court documents. The media company released an updated statement Monday.
“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.
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.
A hearing on a motion by UMG’s lawyers to dismiss Drake’s petition is scheduled for Wednesday.
Drake’s petition 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.”
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.
