Vogue is suing Drake and 21 Savage over the fake cover they made for 'Her Loss'
Today in need-to-know news from the world of Drake, Canada's golden boy is being sued by an irate woman over something completely unrelated to putting hot sauce in condoms.
The Torontonian rapper and his Her Loss collaborator, 21 Savage, have caught the ire of none other than the infamous editrix Anna Wintour by creating a fake issue of Vogue featuring themselves on the cover... and then distributing the work so widely that many people believed it was real.
As reported on Tuesday by TMZ, Vogue's parent company Condé Nast is seeking at least $4 million in damages from Drake and 21 Savage for trademark infringement, false advertising and "brand dilution," among other claims.
Drake & 21 Savage are being sued over their fake Vogue cover 😬
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) November 8, 2022
Condé Nast, the company which owns Vogue, wants at least $4M in damages pic.twitter.com/9abMaUgTol
The suit stems from one part of a fake promotional tour staged by the recording artists to hype their new album last week.
"Me and my brother on newsstands tomorrow!" wrote Drake when sharing a photo of the mocked-up magazine cover on Instagram on Oct. 30. "Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour for the love and support on this historic moment."
Despite the high-profile shoutout, it would appear as though Wintour was not pleased to see Drake on the cover of her venerated fashion rag — not without her approval or even knowledge.
But it was more than the faux cover that got Condé feeling Nasty; It was the widespread distribution and promotion of the magazine as if Drake and 21 Savage were indeed featured in the October issue of Vogue.
Members of the project team went so far as to hand out free copies of the fake magazine in New York City before Her Loss dropped on Nov. 4, and those lucky enough to have scored one say it was pretty much a duplicate of Vogue's October issue, only filled with fake ads featuring Drake and 21 Savage.
a street teamer just handed me a copy of this. it's not a real magazine - it's a photoshopped version of Vogue's October issue with a bunch of promo art for 21 and Drake's new album. pretty funny stunt. https://t.co/RJ8587nD5H pic.twitter.com/SeTD5Ozsh5
— Simon Vozick-Levinson (@simonwilliam) October 31, 2022
On top of the in-person promotion, social media announcements and physical posters erected, Condé Nast also alleges that Drake's team sent out an email blast "celebrating Drake's Vogue cover."
The entire stunt was so convincing that several media outlets reported on the news of an impending issue of Vogue fronted by Drake and 21.
To be fair, many people thought the fake NPR Tiny Desk and Howard Stern appearances were real at first, too, but nobody's getting sued over that (yet.)
Not Vogue suing drake after he posted this fake magazine cover on his Instagram, I mean....when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. pic.twitter.com/JK90jTvjo9
— skinny legend? (@wale__awe) November 8, 2022
According to TMZ, the suit against Drake and 21 also claims that neither Vogue nor Wintour had endorsed the album "in any way," and that Condé Nast had asked "multiple times for all promos using the Vogue name to be taken down" last week to no avail.
Pitchfork writes that the plaintiff is seeking several awards of damages, "including compensation of treble the profits from the album and magazine or treble the legal damages, whichever is greater."
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