Drake and Kendrick Lamar Beef Makes It to the Oscars Thanks to Conan O'Brien

As perhaps should have been expected, Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s 2024-defining feud has now made its way to the Oscars.

During Sunday night’s ceremony, host Conan O’Brien commemorated the halfway point of the broadcast by tucking in a quick but impactful Drake and Kendrick joke, like so:

“Well, we’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile. Don’t worry. I’m lawyered up.”

See the moment in question below.

The joke, of course, is a reference to Kendrick’s Grammys-sweeping “Not Like Us.” Last month, Kendrick brought the Drake-dissing Hot 100 hit, previously reported to be the subject of a lawsuit, to the Super Bowl halftime stage.

In a tweet shared shortly after Conan’s joke aired, writer Skyler Higley, whose credits include After Midnight and CONAN, said he “wrote the Kendrick Lamar joke and bet our executive producer $50 that it would kill.” Thus, he “just made $50.”

Earlier into the night, O’Brien, marking his first time as an Oscars host, managed to get in a couple jokes about the extensive controversy spurred by Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s slew of resurfaced tweets and subsequent responses to being called out.

On $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his new joint album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, Drake sprinkles in a few mentions of beef, generally, without singling out Kendrick. In “Gimme a Hug,” for example, he raps, “Fuck a rap beef, I'm tryna get the party lit.”

As for the films that emerged victorious at this year’s Oscars, both The Substance and Anora were among the evening’s initial batch of winners. See the full list of winners here.