Drake has addressed the past backlash around his controversial friendship with Millie Bobby Brown.
Back in 2018, Millie — who was 14 at the time — revealed that she and the then-31-year-old rapper had developed a strong friendship after he invited her to his concert in Australia the year before.
Speaking with W Magazine, Millie shared, “He was such a fanboy and I was such a fangirl! Honestly, we text all the time now.”
She continued, “He helps me with everything, just like life lessons. He's amazing. He's a great human being, and we went to dinner afterwards and we had dinner the next day and we met in Sydney.”
A few months later, Millie opened up further about her and Drake’s friendship during a chat with Access Hollywood at the 2018 Emmy Awards.
Describing him as a “great friend and a great role model,” Millie shared, “We just texted each other the other day. He was like, ‘I miss you so much.’ I was like, ‘I miss you more.’”
Millie also revealed that Drake would regularly text her with advice “about boys.” When asked to elaborate, she said, “That stays in the text messages.”
In light of the fact that she was 14 at the time and he was 17 years her senior, several internet users were left extremely uncomfortable by Millie’s revelation that Drake messaged her about “boys” and went out to “dinner” with her.
But amid all the backlash, Millie took to her Instagram story to defend the Canadian rapper.
“Why u gotta make a lovely friendship ur headline? U guys are weird,” she wrote. “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. U don't get to choose that for me. It’s nice to have people who understand what I do. Now get back to talking about real problems in this world other than my friendships... jeez.”
Drake didn’t explicitly address the criticism at the time. However, he went on to release a pointed lyric a couple of years later that many speculated was a subtle response to the entire thing.
In his 2020 track “When to Say When,” Drake rapped, “Michael Jackson shit, but the palace is not for kids.” Given that Michael was charged with multiple counts of molesting a minor at his estate in 2003 — and later acquitted on all charges — many speculated that Drake’s reference was a response to people calling him "creepy" for being friends and regularly chatting with Millie.
Fast-forward to today, and Drake is addressing the backlash directly on his new album, For All the Dogs, which was released Friday.
Name-dropping the Stranger Things actor on his track “Another Late Night,” which features rapper Lil Yachty, Drake calls the people who criticized his and Millie’s friendship “weirdos.”
“Weirdos in my comments talkin’ bout some Millie Bobby / Bring them jokes up to the gang, we get to really flockin,’” he says.
Reacting to the lyrics across social media, several fans wound up criticizing Drake once again as they reflected on Millie’s past remarks about their friendship.
“Millie Bobby Brown said a few years back (when she was either 13 or 14) that Drake started texting her about boys & giving her relationship advice & apparently in this album he calls people 'weirdos' for questioning him in his comments about it like he’s not the weirdo here,” one person tweeted.
“Bro the only thing weird is a grown ass man texting privately with a 14 yo. girl and taking her out to dinner,” said another.
