Condé Nast, the media company that owns Vogue, is suing Drake and 21 Savage over the fake magazine cover used in promotion of their new album Her Loss, reports Vanity Fair. The complaint was filed on Monday in a Manhattan federal court.
According to the suit, the company claims that the rappers’ promotional campaign for the album 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. All of this is false... And none of it has been authorized by Condé Nast.”
Condé Nast also alleged that the two rappers “created and distributed counterfeit issues of Vogue” that were distributed in “North America’s largest metropolitan areas,” with posters of the fake cover. The magazines included a photoshopped collage of Drake posing with a young Anna Wintour, the current editor-in-chief of Vogue.
The legal docs go on to say that Wintour “had no involvement in ‘Her Loss’ or its promotion,” and does not endorse the project arguing that the campaign caused “unmistakable” confusion as the media believed that Drake and 21 Savage were the magazine’s “new cover stars.”
On his Instagram, Drake shared a photo of his fake magazine.
“Me and my brother on newsstands tomorrow!! Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour for the love and support on this historic moment. Her Loss Nov 4th,” his post read.
Although Condé Nast was in communication with both rappers leading up to the release of their collaborative album, the lawsuit alleges that the rappers' “flippant disregard for Condé Nast’s rights left it with no choice but to commence this action.”
Condé Nast is seeking $4 million in damages which amounts to triple the defendants’ profits from their album and “counterfeit” magazine. Additionally, they requested that the fake magazine images be "removed from the rappers’ social media and websites, punitive damages, and termination of any further trademark infringement."
In addition to Vogue, Drake and 21 Savage made fake appearances on “The Howard Stern Show” and NPR’s “Tiny Desk." Both outlets enjoyed the rollout.
“Drake did such a good job that news outlets are reporting on it as if it’s real, and that’s sort of the weird thing about our lives now,” Stern said during his Monday show.
The duo also staged a faux Saturday Night Live performance of their track “On BS,” which was posted on Instagram and YouTube on Nov. 6. Michael B. Jordan, introduced the rappers as he pretended to be the host of SNL.
