THE BIG STORY: Drake is facing a copyright lawsuit over his chart-topping Iceman single “Janice STFU,” filed by a songwriter who says the star copied the song’s infectious hook from an earlier demo. And both sides are playing for keeps.
The new case, brought by Aviel Calev Hirschfield, claims the track “shamelessly” copies his demo, which he says he sent directly to “Janice” producers FNZ. He says Drake’s hook is “literally identical” to his — “word-for-word, note-for-note, beat-by-beat, the exact same chorus.”
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Meanwhile, Drake isn’t just denying the allegations. In a scathing response statement, his team called the case a “manufactured and baseless attempt to exploit Drake’s name” and that “Drake wrote this song and has no connection or knowledge of this person, full stop.”
Taken together, that all means this is not your run-of the-mill song-theft case, where a complete rando and his no-name lawyer appear out of the woodwork to allege that a huge hit sounds sorta, kinda, somewhat similar to his, and then the star rigidly vows to “vigorously defend” themselves.
Repped by a well-known Hollywood firm, Hirshfield says he has proof that he wrote eight lines of lyrics that appeared verbatim in Drake’s song. And the star is not vaguely denying it — he’s saying these claims are completely made up. According to court filings, Drake’s team believes Hirshfield “manipulated the metadata” to essentially forge evidence to support his accusations.
Those are entirely irreconcilable positions. Which one will win out? Well, that’s what litigation is for.
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