Fans believe tension arose between Joe Budden and Melyssa Ford on the latest episode of The Joe Budden Podcast following Drake’s mention of them in his new track, Gimme a Hug. On the song, the Toronto rapper references Ford with the line: “Melyssa Ford, you a legend from the 6ix, hate to see you with a dck-sucker.”* A viral clip from the episode shows Budden seemingly joking about the lyric, while Ford appears increasingly irritated.

 

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A post shared by Melyssa Ford (@melyssaford)

During the show—marking its anniversary—Ford shared her thoughts on the name-drop. “I’m still processing,” she admitted. ““I’m still processing,” Ford admitted. “I’m just still processing. I mean, it’s great. It’s awesome. I mean, it’s not the first time, though. It’s not even the second, it’s not even the third. But thank you. I don’t know what he is trying to do, I am not in that man’s mind, I do not know. I will let you guys opine on that.”  The discussion soon shifted to whether Drake intended to create a rift between Ford and Budden.

Things get awkward between Joe budden and Melyssa Ford during the sleeper segment . This whole episode it felt like Joe was throwing little subliminal shots towards Mel? Did the drake gimme a hug record work in causing internal strife on the podcast 👀👀👀👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/dz8bMfJLQ7

— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Chatnigga101) February 19, 2025

The Longstanding Feud Between Drake & Joe Budden

Drake and Joe Budden have been at odds for years. Budden has repeatedly criticized Drake’s music, often provoking the rapper’s ire. Recently, Drake posted an unflattering picture of Budden on an alternate Instagram account, prompting Budden’s response on his podcast: “I’m not doing the back and forth with a corpse.”

Reactions to the latest podcast moment have been mixed. Some fans dismissed the tension as performative. “They fcking love each other. It’s all for show. If there’s one thing they know how to do, it’s make content,”* one user wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Others saw it that Drake as trying to create a rift on Budden’s show, but Ford is definitely capitalizing on the free promo by her fellow Toronto native.

Melyssa Ford had 571K followers on IG before Drake’s “Gimme A Hug”. She now has 577K followers and they started following each other again. 😂 pic.twitter.com/B11PBiVcQt

— Dlala Lazz (@DlalaLazz) February 17, 2025

Joe Budden warned Melyssa Ford not to fall for Drake’s trap after he complimented her & dissed him on ‘Gimme a Hug’ Now Melyssa Ford is 100% team Drake after quoting him multiple times, changing her bio, & releasing this video for Drake. 👀 pic.twitter.com/lZlljwvBTb

— Rain Drops Media (@Raindropsmedia1) February 16, 2025

Drake posts Melyssa Ford on his Instagram spam account.

After name dropping her on Gimme a Hug his new single that is climbing the charts. pic.twitter.com/aLFbyIKlci

— DripSauceMedia (@DripSauceMedia) February 16, 2025

Joe about to start checking her for wires now 😂

— Kermit (@BKid704) February 15, 2025

Like I said. Joe mad cause all it takes is one word from Aubrey and any woman he knows is gone 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/pKfINRzqXG

— Rae of $un$hine 🇨🇦🦉 (@Seletarae) February 15, 2025