Photo: Tsuni-USA / Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
His relationship with Millie Bobby Brown is what started all the speculation.
By Isaac Serna-Diez
Written on Dec 31, 2021
Is it about time we cancel Drake? Or, since “cancel culture” is a sort of fictional prison sentence, is it about time we hold Drake accountable for his actions? Maybe boycott his music?
No, I’m not referring to the fact that his recent album, “Certified Lover Boy,” was mid-tier, at best. I’m referring to his alleged history and allegations involving the grooming of young girls or underaged women as a fully grown — now 35-year-old — man.
In case you’ve forgotten all of the times the Canadian rapper was accused of grooming underage girls, we’ve rounded up the most infamous occasions.
Here are 6 times that Drake allegedly groomed underage girls.
1. Ogden Theatre concert in Denver, Colorado, 2010
On May 17, 2010, Drake performed at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado, around the start of his career.
He had released singles for his debut album, "Thank Me Later," but had so many songs from his mixtape, “So Far Gone,” that he would perform on his promotional tour. The tour would eventually jumpstart his career after he signed with the music label Young Money.
During the concert, Drake called a fan onto the stage during an interlude, and started to kiss her neck and hug her from behind, before saying that he was getting “carried away” and asking her what her age was.
She replied that she was 17 — which in Colorado is the legal age of consent — to which Drake replied, “I can’t go to jail yet, man,” and stopped doing what he was doing.
However, he continued, saying he didn’t know if he should feel guilty or not, but that he had fun, and sent her off the stage with a kiss on the cheek.
In 2010, this seemed like a harmless misunderstanding. Drake was 24 at the time and at the very start of his career, but it would devolve into much worse later on.
2. Kylie Jenner’s '16th Birthday Bash', 2013
In 2013, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West arranged for Drake to perform at Kylie Jenner’s Sweet 16 — a surprise she had no idea about.
Drake was 27 at the time, but this didn’t stop rumors and speculation that the pair were seeing each other behind the scenes.
Rumors of which were given slightly more credibility due to the fact that Kanye West recently talked about how Drake slept with Jenner behind his buddy, Travis Scott’s, back.
Not only that, but for a long time Jenner and rapper Tyga started seeing each other before she legally became of age and officially announced their relationship.
3. Bella Harris and the Summer Sixteen Tour with Future, 2016
In 2018, Vice published an article reporting that Drake was dating an 18-year-old model named Bella Harris, who is also the daughter of legendary music producer Jimmy Jam.
Drake was 31 at the time, but if that doesn’t raise enough eyebrows or red flags, finding out when the two met definitely will.
Harris and Drake met during the rapper’s “Summer Sixteen” tour with other rapper Future in 2016 to promote their collaborative album, "What A Time To Be Alive." At the time, Harris was 16 (how ironic), and Drake was 29.
Photo: Instagram.com/bellabharris
In an Instagram post that has since been deleted, Drake is seen being very close and handsy with Harris, causing people to call him “creepy” and speculate about the pair’s history.
Page Six reported that Drake rented out a restaurant to dine privately with someone who many speculated to be Harris, but the model later denied those claims on Instagram by saying she spent the weekend working in New York.
4. Jorja Smith and the Scorpion track “Jaded,” 2017
Drake has never been the artist to come out and say exactly who his songs are about. In fact, his breakout song, “Best I Ever Had,” started with lyrics that reference exactly that and how women will often think his songs are about them.
“You know, a lot of girls be / Thinkin' my songs are about them, but / This is not to get confused / This one's for you,” he said during the beginning instrumental.
However, many people speculate that the song “Jaded” off of his 2018 album, "Scorpion," is about English singer Jorja Smith, who was 10 years younger than him when they were rumored to be dating in 2017.
She was 19 and he was 30 when they were rumored to be dating, which while still legal, matches Drake’s strange track record of chasing after women who are much younger than he.
People also believe that a line from the last record on that album, “March 14,” which is about his son Adonis, is about Smith as well. “I got this 11 tatted for somebody, now it’s yours,” references Smith’s birthday, which is June 11.
Drake seems to like referencing people’s birthdays, which is something we’ll bring back up a little later.
5. Billie Eilish’s 18th birthday and Drake texts, 2019
Billie Eilish, born in December 2001, made a post on Instagram on December 17th, 2019, the day before her birthday, with the caption “18 tomorrow.”
Allegedly, some jokers thought it would be hilarious to edit a screenshot of the comments section to include a comment from Drake’s Instagram account, @champagnepapi, that said “I’ve been waiting,” with an emoji of streamers and another with a hot, sweaty face.
While everyone says it’s not real and the image is doctored, the joke came from an interview that Eilish did earlier that year with Vanity Fair where she talked about the superstar rapper.
“Drake is like the nicest dude I’ve ever spoken to,” she said when talking about the famous people who follow her on Instagram. “I mean I’ve only texted him, but he’s so nice.”
Of course, everyone immediately jumped on this interview and called Drake, who was 33 at the time, creepy.
“Everybody’s so sensitive. A grown man can’t be a fan of an artist?” she said in an interview with Vogue last year. “There are so many people that the internet should be more worried about. Like, you’re really going to say that Drake is creepy because he’s a fan of mine, and then you’re going to go vote for Trump?”
The skepticism from fans also comes from Drake’s behavior with the famous actress, Millie Bobby Brown, back in 2017-18.
6. 'Hawkins Very Own' Millie Bobby Brown and Drake talk about boys, 2017
The “6 God” himself met “Eleven,” played by Millie Bobby Brown, from the hit TV show "Stranger Things," back in 2017 and commemorated it with a post on Instagram.
The post was captioned, “Hawkins Very Own,” making a play on words with the name of his record label, “October’s Very Own,” since his birthday is in October.
At the time, he was 31 and she was 13, so instead of automatically pinning Drake as a child predator, everyone just thought he was a fan of the show and wanted to take a picture with her.
A year later, however, while Brown was being interviewed by Access at the 2018 Emmy Awards, she talked a little more about her friendship with Drake.
“I love him. I met him in Australia and he’s honestly so fantastic and a great friend and a great role model,” she said of the rapper. “We just texted the other day and he was like ‘I miss you so much,’ and I was like ‘I miss you more!’”
Why Drake is telling a 14-year-old girl that he misses him as a 32-year-old man is unknown, but it gets a little bit weirder.
When asked what kind of advice he gives her and about what, Brown said, “About boys, he helps me. Yeah yeah yeah, he’s great, he’s wonderful, I love him.”
The interviewer prodded further, asking Brown what his advice with boys is, and she says, “You know, that stays in the text messages.”
This interview raised a lot of eyebrows and concerns with people, especially given his already-shaky history.
Brown, of course, responded to the allegations in a similar manner to how Eilish would respond a couple of years later.
“[You] guys are weird... for real,” she wrote in her Instagram story about the press who wrote about her friendship with the rapper. “I’m lucky to have people in the business extend their time to help me further my career and offer their wisdom and guidance. I’m very blessed to have amazing people in my life.”
All of these allegations have hurt a small part of Drake’s career and weened a lot of people off of the rapper’s music, but so far, nothing has been substantiated or proven.
Maybe Drake just has a lot of friends, but no one really knows the truth except for him.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics.