Conan O’Brien makes Kendrick Lamar-Drake joke at 2025 Oscars: “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up”

3 March, 2025

Conan O'Brien Oscars Kendrick Lamar Drake

Oscars 2025 host Conan O’Brien has made a joke about the infamous feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake at the awards ceremony.

Making a reference to Lamar’s recent Super Bowl performance – which included his scathing Drake diss track ‘Not Like Us’, in which he accused the ‘Hotline Bling’ singer and rapper for being a pedophile – O’Brien marked the halfway point of the televised proceedings.

“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 exclaimed. The audience responded with laughter and audible gasps, to which O’Brien quipped: “Don’t worry, I’m lawyered up.”

The Compton rapper made history by becoming the first solo rapper to headline the coveted Halftime Show. Lamar’s showcase is also the most-watched Halftime Show ever, beating out Usher, who raked in 129.3million viewers, and previous title-holder Rihanna for 121million viewers.

Last week, it was reported that Drake has dropped “key allegations” from his lawsuit against Universal Music Group over ‘Not Like Us’.

Both Kendrick Lamar and SZA are due to hit the road for a joint tour this year, performing across North America between April and June. Shortly after their Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, the pair announced UK and European stadium tour dates. You can get tickets to the US dates here and tickets to the UK/European dates here.

‘Not Like Us’, smashed numerous streaming records and went on to win five Grammys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video.

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony is taking place tonight (March 2), with comedian O’Brien taking over the reins as host for the first time.

Emilia Pérez leads this year’s nominations with 13 nods, while The Brutalist and Wicked follow behind with 10 nods each. Papal thriller Conclave and Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown each have eight nods, while Anora follows with six nods.

You can follow rolling coverage of the ceremony right here, with a winners list being updated throughout the evening.

This year will be getting a change, with no performances for Best Original Song, while the 2025 ceremony is expected to honour Los Angeles after the recent wildfires. Additionally, Harrison Ford has pulled out of presenting due to illness.

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