It appears Kendrick Lamar is very protective of his brand and won’t hesitate to take action against anyone who attempts to use his likeness without permission.
That was seemingly the case with Ronnie Semler, a Texas ranch owner, as he took to Instagram to share how he was almost sued by Kendrick, 38, for naming one of his llamas after the Grammy-winning rapper, XXL reported.
“The llamas in particular were very cute,” Semler said in the video. “We had Tony Llama. We had Barack Ollama. And we had one that was named Kendrick Llama. It was done for fun and for the people that came to visit the ranch. And it was certainly something we didn’t do to harm or hurt anybody or their reputation.”
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Semler said an individual from the GNX rapper’s camp ultimately got in touch with him after they became aware of the name of the llama in question.
“[Kendrick Lamar] had his attorneys or someone reach out to us that if we didn’t change our name, we were gonna be sued,” Semler recalled. “At the time, I never heard of him. No big deal. We’ll change the name…Now, after that Super Bowl show, I know who this guy is who was gonna sue me.”
Semler sharing his story comes after Kendrick had his first performance in Toronto following his highly publicized beef with Canadian rapper Drake, Face2Face Africa reported this month. The Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper also made a bold statement as he performed his diss song to Drake, Not Like Us, with elated fans even shouting, “one more time,” Global News reported.
Though Not Like Us is undoubtedly one of the biggest singles to be released last year, Drake took issue with some of the allegations Kendrick made against him in the song, causing him to file a lawsuit against Universal Music Group. The God’s Plan rapper in the suit claims Kendrick wrongly accused him of being a pedophile, and those allegations have harmed his safety.
Drake as well as Kendrick are signed to Universal Music Group.
READ ALSO: Samuel L. Jackson didn’t understand Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show until dress rehearsal
