On 31 October 2021, DJ Akademiks uploaded clips of a Drake lookalike performing ‘Trophies’ and ‘Way 2 Sexy’ at a club in Miami. “Is Drizzy here really? Nah, you dizzy,” the man was heard announcing in the videos. “I’m a Toronto native. I blew up when I arrived here six days ago. I appeared in Tory Lanez’s narrative. We’re just getting rid of this crap because it’s all part of God’s plan, says the man.” He then went on to introduce himself as “Izzy” and admitted to be touring as the “Fake Drake.”

Appearing on the No Jumper podcast the following month, 22-year-old Izzy claimed that his doppelgänger hustle was making him $5,000 per show. “People DM me like, ‘Hey, you wanna come to my event because I can’t pay Drake—he’s too expensive. I’ll pay you $5,000.’ $5,000 just to show up. They pay my Airbnb, they pay the flight, they hook it all up.” he said.

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At the time, Fake Drake claimed that someone in Las Vegas had informed the real rapper of his existence, but the latter was unbothered.

“He got in contact with Drake and Drake was just like, ‘It doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t affect me. Let the guy get his bag. It’s not affecting me’. If you think it’s gonna go wrong if you’re posting him on your [Instagram Stories] and everything, just keep the peace. He didn’t really give a fuck, you know? That was the whole thing.” Izzy explained during the podcast.

In an interview with Complex in May 2022, Fake Drake further admitted that he gets swarmed by people every time he steps out. “People be like, ‘Yo, can I get a video? Can I get a photo?’ It got to be really crazy. In Miami especially, I have to walk around with security,” he said.

But all of this was until he stepped up his impersonation game. On 18 June 2022, Izzy shared a clip of him FaceTiming with the real Drizzy. “Yo, that album was hard, bro. Congratulations on the drop,” Izzy was heard saying to Drake—referring to his latest studio album, Honestly, Nevermind. “It’s an OVO ting,” he continued, to which Drake replied, “Much love” and quickly hung up.

Drake hates him loooooool the way he hung up so fast 😭😭 https://t.co/AUX986rTBw

— nya💋 (@itssnyawan) June 18, 2022

Two days later, several media outlets reported that Fake Drake was kicked out of a nightclub in Houston. After the clip went viral across social media platforms, eagle-eyed fans spotted how the real rapper had liked the video on Instagram. But things really went downhill for the lookalike when he challenged Drake to a $1 million boxing match set for 27 August.

If Izzy loses, he promised to stop impersonating the rapper forever. If he wins, however, he asked for a deal with Drake’s record label OVO aside from the winning amount.

Well, as it turns out, Izzy didn’t get the chance to hear back from his idol as he was banned from Instagram altogether. “Naaa… don’t tell me even Instagram was sick of it,” DJ Akademiks first broke the news on the platform. While some fans sympathised with Fake Drake and his hustle to ultimately “feed his family,” others sighed a breath of relief for the Canadian rapper. In fact, some even theorised how Fake Drake had started getting on the rapper’s nerves by citing his lyrics from ‘Fair Trade’ which read: “Imitation isn’t flattery, it’s just annoyin’ me.”

That’s fucked up bro, that’s that man’s job.

— $urfa 🏄🏾‍♂️ (@KingSurfa) July 3, 2022

Fake Drake when he got banned from IG 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/KBKwJJK62g

— Ichigo Niggasake (@SomaKazima) July 3, 2022

https://twitter.com/seniorrmannn/status/1543693641331445764

On Thursday 3 March 2022, Canadian rapper Drake filed for a temporary restraining order against Mesha Collins, a woman who has reportedly been harassing him for several years. The legal action bars Collins from contacting or coming within 100 yards (91 metres) of Drake, his four-year-old son Adonis, his parents and his lawyer.

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In documents obtained by E! News, the rapper alleged that Collins had been harassing him on and off since 2017 despite never having met or communicated with her, adding, “Ms. Collins is a stalker. I have no relationship whatsoever with her.”

“She has sent messages saying she wishes me dead, and that I should shoot myself and my son with a bullet,” Drake stated in the papers. “As a result of Ms. Collins’ harassment and obsession with me, I have suffered and continue to suffer emotional distress and am concerned for my safety and that of my family.”

In 2017, the woman, who is now 29, was arrested and found guilty of trespassing after breaking into Drake’s Los Angeles home. Then in August 2021, she sued the rapper, seeking $4 billion in damages for alleged defamation and invasion of privacy. In a December email to Drake’s lawyer, Collins asked to arrange mediation, adding that she was homeless. He denied her request.

The civil complaint was dismissed that same month, with the judge noting that Collins “has not demonstrated any of [Drake]’s statements were about [her] or that he used her identity, name, or likeness in his Instagram posts or endorsements,” Billboard reported at the time.

According to a court record included in Drake’s filing, during a February 2022 hearing Collins “conceded that she has been arrested three times for trespassing on [Drake]’s property and another five to six times for assaulting or spitting his fans, or otherwise disturbing the peace surrounding” the rapper.

Just after, Collins herself sought a restraining order against the ‘Hotline Bling’ singer but it was denied for lack of evidence. The rapper’s lawyer wrote in the latest filing that he emailed Collins to ask her to serve him, not the musician but the lawyer himself, with the papers and to tell her to not attempt to go to Drake’s home to serve him directly.

“In response to my email, Collins sent me a series of extremely disturbing emails,” the attorney wrote, “threatening not only Mr. Graham [Drake’s last name], but also his son and myself. In these messages, she expresses her desire that Mr. Graham die and that I get what I ‘deserve’.”

He continued, “It is clear that Collins’ behavior and obsession with Graham is escalating, and I am very concerned by the contents of these messages which I believe necessitate the entry of a restraining order against her.”

Less than two months ago, in January 2022, it was alleged that Drake himself was facing a lawsuit from a woman he had intercourse with after she tried emptying the remnants of the condom they used to get pregnant from the rapper, only to realise he had poured hot sauce into it to “kill his sperm.” It is unclear whether the lawsuit has been settled.