Drake was the butt of the joke at another global broadcast this weekend when Conan O’Brien referenced Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX performance at the Oscars. The writer of the joke took to X and peeled back the curtain on how the moment came to be.
“Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile,” O’Brien said during the Sunday evening (March 2) award show. He followed up by telling people not to worry because he was “lawyered up,” a reference to Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group for heavily promoting “Not Like Us” and its defamatory content.
Naturally, this circulated the internet to mixed reactions. K. Dot fans reveled in their “enemy” being embarrassed again on such a large scale. The Toronto superstar’s fans, and a section of impartial fans, felt like the joke was dragged on long enough and didn’t approve of it being co-opted by people outside of the culture. It was especially odd to them since Hollywood has a glaring recent history of actors being proven to be pedophiles or partaking in other sexual misconduct.
Skyler Higley, a standup writer, popped up on X soon after the Late Night host broke the internet and revealed that he wrote the joke for him. “Wrote the Kendrick Lamar joke and bet our executive producer $50 that it would kill,” he tweeted. “Just made $50.” In another tweet, he expressed his gratitude for the Academy and S&P not cutting out the joke. Read above.
Conan O’Brien’s joke at the Oscars came just a few weeks after the back-to-back “Drake funerals,” as coined by the internet, that were the 67th Grammys and Super Bowl LIX. The Compton rapper won all five awards that “Not Like Us” was nominated for, namely Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year. As the smash hit diss track played in the venue, the crowd danced and sang along, joining to chant “A minor” when the time came.
At the Super Bowl, Lamar teased “Not Like Us” throughout his performance before finally unleashing it as the penultimate song in his set. When it came time to rap the “Say Drake” line, the Pulitzer Prize winner flashed an evil grin at the camera. He also tapped Serena Williams, Drizzy’s ex, to hit the crip walk while the song was performed.
Drake displayed his resilience through all of the public lashings last month when he released $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his collaborative R&B album with PARTYNEXTDOOR. The 21-song LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking his 14th overall No. 1 album on the long-running chart. He is now tied with JAY-Z and Taylor Swift for the feat, and together, the trio trails the Beatles, who have 19 No. 1 albums. Listen to $$$4U above.
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