After months of publicly defending her claims that she was allegedly shot by Tory Lanez after a party in Los Angeles, Megan Thee Stallion finally took the stand in a Los Angeles courtroom and recounted her side of the story.
Up to this point, the Houston rapper has been pretty open about her claims that Lanez shot her on the night of July 12, 2020. Despite backlash from skeptics, Megan has defended herself both in television interviews and on social media.
Now just a day after the prosecuting and defense lawyers made their opening statements, Megan Thee Stallion has finally gotten her day in court.
According to Rolling Stone, on Tuesday, during the “Savage” rapper’s three-hour testimony, she described what led up to the shooting, her reaction following the shooting and why she lied to police and media outlets about having an intimate relationship with Lanez.
From Rolling Stone:
“This whole story was about who I’m having sex with, and I don’t understand why that matters,” she said, shutting down defense suggestions that it was her former best-friend Kelsey Harris who shot her in a jealous rage. Megan was adamant Lanez was the triggerman.
“Tory came out and told so many different lies, about me not being shot, about him not being the shooter, and making this all about a sex scandal,” she testified. The ensuing ordeal led to a barrage of threats and harassment online, she said, and left her feeling like a “sick bird” that other members of her industry sought to avoid.
“Because I was shot, I’ve been turned into some kind of villain, and he’s the victim. This has messed up my whole life,” she said, admitting the emotional toll has left her feeling isolated and depressed.
At one point during her testimony, Megan said she wished that Lanez would’ve fatally shot her instead of having to go through the constant harassment from doubters who don’t believe her, according to Rolling Stone.
Most recently, this harassment presented itself in Drake and 21 Savage’s recently released album, Her Loss, where the Honestly, Nevermind rapper said, “This bitch lie about getting shots, but she still a stallion/She don’t even get the joke but she still smiling.”
Describing what led up to the alleged shooting, Megan said she met up with Lanez at a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house and when she said she was ready to leave, Lanez was hesitant to join her because he wanted to stay, according to Rolling Stone.
While in the car, the Traumazine rapper claimed that Lanez tried to start an argument by saying that she needs to stop lying to her then-friend and assistant, Kelsey Harris. Megan said he was referencing their sexual history together, which was information unknown to Harris.
According to Rolling Stone, Megan stated that Lanez started calling both women “bitches” and “hoes” during the argument, which led to her leaving the car. But after realizing that she only had on a bikini, Megan said she got back into the car where Harris and Lanez were loudly arguing with each other.
As they got closer to Megan’s destination, she asked to be let out of the car again. Megan claims Lanez started to belittle her rap career, so she returned the favor by she taking shots at his musical talent as an artist.
More from Rolling Stone:
“I start walking away from the car, and I can hear Tory say, ‘Dance, bitch!’ I don’t have to turn all the way around. I didn’t have to use my feet to turn around,” she testified, displaying for the jury how she turned her head without turning her entire body. “I literally turned like this, and I could see him with the gun.”
Peterson’s lawyer George Mgdesyan objected at this point, but the judge let the answer remain on the record. (Megan’s main injury was near the back of her left foot, leading the defense to claim she was facing away from the shooter when the gunfire erupted and didn’t have a good vantage point to identify who was holding the semiautomatic 9mm handgun.)
Megan repeated that she saw “Tory with the gun” and then “froze.”
Megan described her shock and disbelief after hearing the gun go off. She recalled hitting the ground and crawling to a driveway where she then noticed that she had been shot in her feet.
According to Rolling Stone, Megan said everyone at the scene looked shocked, including Harris and Lanez. When word got out that the police were on their way, they all got in the car, where Megan alleges that Lanez said, “Please don’t say anything. I’ll give y’all a million dollars. I can’t go to jail. I already got caught with a gun before.”
The Houston rapper said she initially lied to the police and told them she stepped on glass. When asked why she lied she replied, per Rolling Stone, “this was the height of police brutality and George Floyd, and if I said this man just shot me, I didn’t know if they might shoot first and ask questions later.”
She also said as a woman in the music industry, people wouldn’t believe her anyway.
At the moment, it’s unclear how far Megan’s testimony will go in garnering a conviction. If found guilty, Lanez will face 22 years and eight months in prison for assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury, concealing a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
Megan’s testimony was the first big domino to fall in this trial. Other witnesses’ testimonies will also be key in trying to present a clearer picture of what really happened the night Megan Thee Stallion was allegedly shot.