"He's afraid to sue Kendrick" — TMZ's Harvey Levin calls Drake's lawsuit against UMG "weak"

Radio host Big Boy shared an interview clip with Harvey Levin discussing Drake's lawsuit against UMG, filed on January 15, 2025. Levin noted that Kendrick Lamar was not targeted in the lawsuit, despite being the writer of the diss track Not Like Us, released in May 2024. Levin criticized Drake's decision to sue the company but not Kendrick, calling it a "weak" move.

In the clips shared on Instagram, TMZ's Harvey Levin said:

"This is so weak to me on Drake's part. I'm shocked he's doing this... He is using Universal for defamation because words like that are used in the song, but he's not using Kendrick."

He then added:

"He is afraid to sue Kendrick... I think Drake is showing fear by not suing Kendrick along with Universal."

According to Harvey, Kendrick Lamar was the "easiest one and the first one", and despite that Drizzy chose to not go after him. For those unversed, the lyrics of Lamar's Not Like Us described the Canadian rapper as a "predator" and "certified p*dophile."

Elsewhere in the conversation, Levin further that while it was Kendrick who had performed the song several times, he was not targetted in the complaint against UMG. Harvey Levin then touched on the part of the suit which claimed that UMG was trying to "devalue" Drizzy so that they could offer him less money in upcoming contracts.

According to Levin, this did not make sense, since UMG would make more profits when their artists do good in the market. Levin added that if UMG "ruined his career, they're gonna make less money." Both Lamar and Drake are signed to Universal Music Group, under separate divisions. While Lamar Republic Records, the One Dance artist is associated with Interscope Records.

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UMG has criticized the latest lawsuit that Drake filed on January 15

The defamation suit filed by Drizzy accused his own label Universal Music Group of intentionally spreading untrue narratives about him, which in turn put his life in danger. According to reports by Variety, dated January 15, a spokesperson for UMG denied all the claims made in the complaint. According to the spokesperson:

"Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical."

The spokesperson added that the company and its employees have helped him "achieve historic commercial and personal financial success" over the years. It was also stated that all this while, the rapper had used the company to distribute his tracks in several rap battles.

The spokesperson further accused the rapper of "weaponize the legal process" to "silence" Lamar's creative freedom. As aforementioned, the lawsuit put all the blame on UMG for distributing the music that had lyrics that he found defaming. Drizzy has sued UMG previously as well, however, ended up withdrawing the case then.