The hip-hop stars has been slapped with $4 million lawsuit filed by media company Conde Nast, which owns Vogue, for the faux promotional campaign for their new joint album.
- Nov 9, 2022
AceShowbiz - Is it now "His Loss"? Drake and 21 Savage have been hit with a $4 million lawsuit over a fake Vogue magazine cover the rappers used to promote their newly-released joint album "Her Loss".
A source close to Drizzy told TMZ on Tuesday, November 8 that the Canadian rapper and his team were left "surprised and confused" by the lawsuit, noting that other organizations, including "Saturday Night Live", Howard Stern and NPR's Tiny Desk series, all gladly jumped on board and had fun with the faux promotional campagin.
Drake and 21 Savage were sued by media company Conde Nast, which owns Vogue, in a complaint filed on Monday, November 7 in a Manhattan federal court. The company alleged the rappers' promotional campaign for "Her Loss" was "built entirely on the use of the Vogue marks and the premise that Drake and 21 Savage would be featured on the cover of Vogue's next issue." The statement further stressed, "All of this is false. And none of it has been authorized by Conde Nast."
Conde Nast also claimed the two rappers created and distributed counterfeit issues of Vogue that were distributed in "North America's largest metropolitan areas," alongside posters of the faux cover. The magazine covers included a photoshopped collage of Drake posing with a young Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
The legal docs further emphasized that Anna "had no involvement in 'Her Loss' or its promotion," and did not endorse it in any way. It also adding the result was "unmistakable" confusion among the public, including media that anticipated Drake and 21 Savage as Vogue's "new cover stars."
Conde Nast was in communication with both rappers in the weeks leading up to the release of "Her Loss" but the suit claims the duo's "flippant disregard for Conde Nast's rights have left it with no choice but to commence this action."
The global media company is seeking at least $4 million in damages, or triple the defendants' profits from their album and "counterfeit" magazine. The company is also asking for the fake magazine images to be removed from the rappers' social media and websites, punitive damages and termination of any further trademark infringement.
On October 31, Drake and 21 Savage debuted the fake magazine cover on their respective Instagram accounts. The rappers' posts have been removed from their pages following the lawsuit.
