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As we round the year anniversary of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef, which culminated with the latter’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” the jokes are still flying.
Last night was the 97th annual Oscars, and host Conan O’Brien made jokes at the expense of the nominees seated in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, himself, and a few of the biggest moments in pop culture over the year.
But perhaps none caught you off guard as much as when the Kendrick-Drake beef made it to primetime once again. Refusing to let the war of words die down, O’Brien fanned the flames instead after taking the stage about two hours into the telecast.
“We’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile,” O’Brien joked, referencing Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” where he catchily scolds Drake’s alleged creep status.
The former late-night host didn’t stop there. He continued by making fun of Drake for filing a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) for inflating the success of “Not Like Us” through payola and bots. He also engaged in legal filings with iHeartMedia—which he settled shortly before the Oscars—after accusing the company of accepting illegal payment from UMG for airplay.
“Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up,” O’Brien quipped without fear.
UMG has vehemently denied pulling strings behind the scenes to sway public opinion K. Dot’s way, including a statement that explains that Drake’s success is shared with the label as he remains one of their top signed acts.
“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 statement read.
Drake’s been the butt of jokes during Lamar’s entire victory lap, which culminated when he won five Grammys –including Record of the Year–and his Super Bowl LIX halftime show that averaged a record 127.7 million viewers just in the United States.
See how social media is reacting to Drake still feeling the pain of the 2024 beef below.
