The "Janice STFU" lawsuit against Drake is dropped, 11 days after it was filed

A copyright lawsuit over the chorus of Drake's "Janice STFU" has been withdrawn less than two weeks after it was filed.

Lawyers for the producer and songwriter Aviel Calev Hirschfield filed a notice on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, dismissing the complaint against Drake. No reason was given in the notice. The dismissal is "without prejudice", a legal term meaning the case ends for now but Hirschfield keeps the right to bring it again.

What the suit claimed

The complaint was filed on 16 October 2026 in federal court. Hirschfield said he wrote the chorus of "Janice STFU", a track on Drake's Iceman album, in January 2026 with Drake in mind, recording it as a demo over a beat by the song's producers, FnZ. He said he sent the reference to FnZ and to other producers in Drake's circle and never heard back.

He also said he only learned the chorus had been used when Iceman came out in May, and that he then contacted Drake's team and sent over stems of his original recording. The suit argued the finished hook was effectively the same as his demo and that he should have been credited.

Drake's side

Drake's representatives rejected the claims outright when the suit was filed. They said Drake wrote the song himself, that he had no knowledge of Hirschfield, and described the case as an attempt to profit from his name. Nothing in the dismissal notice changes that position, and we have not seen a new statement from either side since the filing was withdrawn.

What happens now

Because the case was dropped without prejudice, this is not a ruling on who wrote the chorus. No court has examined the demo, the stems or the timeline, and the question of authorship has not been answered either way. If Hirschfield refiles, we will update this story.

Drake's Iceman arrived on 15 May 2026. More on Drake is on his ADMC artist page.