Hosting the 97th Annual Academy Awards on March 2nd 2025, Conan O’Brien didn’t hold back…as the ceremony returned from a commercial break, he took a pointed jab at Drake, referencing both K. Dot’s scathing diss and the OVO Sound founder’s subsequent lawsuit.
“Well, we’re halfway through the show,” O’Brien quipped to the star-studded crowd at the Dolby Theatre. “Which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile!”
Gasps rippled through the stunned audience, quickly followed by laughter, before O’Brien added with a smirk: “Don’t worry—I’m lawyered up!”
The joke was a reference to the Grammy-winning song “Not Like Us,” a product of Lamar’s feud with Drake that includes several not-so-veiled accusations against the Canadian-born rapper.
The two rappers have collaborated in the past, but there’s no love lost in recent years, with the two exchanging blows in their songs. Drake has said recently that he’s interested in moving on from the beef, but after the critical and commercial success of “Not Like Us,” many in the hip-hop community believe the knockout blow was landed long before he made that decision.