‘If anybody kills me, it’s Drake’: Rapper ordered to give deposition in court for XXXTentacion murder trial over 2017 feud
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA: Drake has been ordered to take a deposition or appear in court for the XXXTentacion murder trial later this month, according to Rolling Stone. Mauricio Padilla, the defense lawyer for one of the three defendants on trial, Dedrick Williams, tried to subpoena Drake. Defense lawyer Mauricio Padilla believes the rapper is connected to XXXTentacion's death due to a beef between Drake and the late rapper born Jahseh Onfroy, who was shot and killed in 2018.
In an effort to support this assertion, Padilla attempted to subpoena the 'Certified Lover Boy' rapper last month. However, a court document acquired by Billboard claims that Drake was compelled to attend a deposition via Zoom call on February 24 after he missed his planned deposition date of January 27, Rolling Stone reported.
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The decision to involve Drake was made after it was revealed that XXXTentacion and Drake got into a fight in 2017 over what XXXTentacion thought was a rip-off of his flows from the hit single 'Look at Me!' on Drake's 'KMT', leading to baseless accusations that Drake was involved in the murder. A year after the controversy, XXXTentacion shared a story on his Instagram account with the tag "@champagnepapi" and the words, "If anybody tried to murder me, it was @champagnepapi." After that, XXXTentacion claimed his account had been hacked; four months later, he was slain in Deerfield Beach, Florida, at the age of 20.
In December, Padilla filed a court document citing statements made by XXXTentacion's mother, Cleopatra Bernard, who stated that a dispute with Migos was also a concern. “In [her] deposition, Bernard said that she asked one of [X’s] relatives to accompany him to the motorcycle shop the day he died ‘because of the ongoing battle with Drake and Migos',” Rolling Stone reported. “The suspected feud between X and Drake dates back to 2017, when Drake previewed a new song during a tour stop in Amsterdam. Some concertgoers suggested the new song sounded eerily close to X’s hit single ‘Look at Me.’ Drake, who has been accused of ‘biting’ other artists’ sounds in the past, denied all accusations. … To be clear, Drake is not a suspect or on trial, but by mentioning the Canadian rapper, Padilla is introducing someone other than his client in order to show reasonable doubt,” Complex explained the problem in a piece.
Drake to appear in court
In his opening remarks on February 6, Tuesday, Padilla stated (and paraphrased), "Before X died, he remarked, ‘If anybody kills me, it’s Drake.’ Do you think sitting here years later, any detective has ever asked Drake or anybody like that? No.” He further continued, “This is one of the biggest celebrities in the world. Excluding an order from this court, we all know that I will never be able to take his deposition.”
Padilla requested an "order to show cause," and Broward Country Circuit Judge Michael Usan approved his request on Thursday. Drake has until February 24 to finish the order, which will be done through Zoom, according to Billboard. “If deponent Aubrey Drake Graham does not appear to deposition he must appear before this court on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023 at 10 am EST at so [sic] the court can determine why he should not be held in contempt,” reads the order, as reported by Rolling Stone.