Condé Nast Sues Drake and 21 Savage Over Fake Vogue Cover
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Drake and 21 Savage mounted a buzzy — and controversial — promotional campaign for their new album “Her Loss” that mimicked a whirlwind promotional tour. There they are performing on “Saturday Night Live,” on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” and sitting down for an interview with Howard Stern. (Stern asks Drake what kind of porn he likes.)
But a fake Vogue cover — not to mention a fake appearance by 21 Savage on Vogue’s “What’s in My Bag” video series — has earned them the wrong kind of attention.
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Vogue publisher Condé Nast is suing the duo as well as Hiltzik Strategies (the communications firm that represents Drake) for trademark infringement and false advertising, among several other claims. In a suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Condé Nast is seeking $4 million, claiming the campaign has “damaged the goodwill and reputation” of Vogue.
The campaign, which satirizes the standard media circus that accompanies so many industry products, included fake posters in New York City and other metropolitan areas that purported to reveal Drake and 21 Savage as Vogue’s new cover faces. A fake version of the magazine was also handed out “in North America’s largest metropolitan areas,” according to the suit. And Drake name-checked Vogue’s powerful editor in chief Anna Wintour in his Instagram post featuring the counterfeit cover: “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.”
Meanwhile, 21 Savage appeared in a fake interview for Vogue’s “What’s in My Bag” series, which as of Tuesday had nearly 400,000 views. In the video, which has the Vogue logo in the upper left corner, 21 Savage reveals the contents of a large black duffel bag. There’s dried organic mango; a dreidel (“I love my Jewish brothers and sisters,” he says); a copy of “Charlotte’s Web”; mint tea; a Janet Jackson CD, and a Louis Vuitton wristlet. “Long live Virgil, though,” he says, referring to late Vuitton artistic director of men’s Virgil Abloh.
According to the suit, since Oct. 31, the day after the campaign commenced, Condé Nast lawyers have “repeatedly” demanded that the defendants “cease their infringing activities and take appropriate remedial measures to curtail further public confusion” before the release of “Her Loss” on Nov. 4. The suit also takes issue with apparently doctored photos of Wintour and Drake, noting that Wintour “did not authorize the use of her image to promote [the] album.”
Drake’s and 21 Savage’s social media posts are still up and a representative at Hiltzik Strategies responded to the cease-and-desist demands to say that they were “received.” This, among other things, according to the suit, constitutes “flippant disregard for Condé Nast’s rights.”
Of course, not everyone is offended. NPR Music used its appearance in the “Her Loss” campaign to lob a public entreaty to the duo, tweeting, “Let’s do it forreal tho.”
At least someone has a sense of humor.
