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Megan Thee Stallion's Ex-Friend Testifies She Didn't See Who Shot Megan But It Wasn't Her
Kelsey Harris, who was in the car with Tory Lanez when Megan Thee Stallion was shot, testified that she didn't witness him pull the trigger and doesn't know who did it despite prior statements to the contrary.
A pivotal witness in the legal case against Tory Lanez, who has been charged with shooting Megan Thee Stallion, provided combative testimony when called to the stand by the prosecution on Wednesday.
Kelsey Harris, 27, who was close friends with and working as an assistant to Megan Thee Stallion when she was shot on July 12, 2020, was called to the stand on Wednesday to testify about what she witnessed in the car on the night of the incident.
But during her testimony, Harris demanded immunity, repeatedly tried to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incriminations and testified that she'd repeatedly lied to prosecutors in prior statements, while also claiming that anxiety, postpartum depression and the amount of alcohol she'd consumed on the night of the shooting made her memory too hazy to recall details of the events she'd previously described.
She did, however, deny being the person who shot Megan Thee Stallion, despite efforts by Lanez's lawyers to implicate her in the crime.
Prosecutors allege that all three left a party in an SUV being driven by Lanez's bodyguard Jauquan Smith and subsequently had a heated argument, in the middle of which Megan Thee Stallion asked Smith to pull over and got out. While she was outside, prosecutors say Lanez shot at his fellow rapper's feet, after which he allegedly offered both women a million dollars to not disclose that he was responsible for the shooting and repeatedly apologized in private for what happened.
Lanez's defense lawyers have claimed that Lanez ignited an argument between Megan Thee Stallion and Harris by revealing he'd slept with both women. The lawyers strongly implied that Harris shot her friend and employer after Megan Thee Stallion exited the vehicle, though Harris and Megan Thee Stallion have both made public statements denying that she did so. The defense claims Lanez's subsequent apologies were for revealing his relationship with Megan Thee Stallion to Harris.
Megan Thee Stallion testified on Tuesday that she knew Harris had a crush on Lanez but hadn't known the two had slept together, and that she subsequently developed what most people would describe as a "friends with benefits" relationship with him — occasional, non-exclusive sexual intimacy within the bounds of an otherwise platonic relationship.
She testified that she and Harris had been partying at Kylie Jenner's home for several hours before Lanez arrived, and that she wanted to leave because her wig was slipping. She insisted that Lanez come with her, though he wanted to stay. His "attitude," as she called it, continued in the car, where he demanded that she tell Harris about their sexual relationship and the three began fighting. That fight included him calling both women "bitches and hoes" and the two rappers insulting one another's music.
Megan Thee Stallion testified that she demanded Smith pull the car over for her to get out, at which point she realized that she was shoeless and in a thong bikini in a neighborhood she didn't recognize. After getting back in the car, she realized Harris and Lanez were still screaming at one another and exited the car a second time. At this point, Lanez allegedly yelled "Dance, b*tch" and began shooting from inside the car. She further testified that Lanez had offered both women a million dollars to not tell police about the shooting.
She said in testimony that she ended her long, close friendship with Harris after learning that Harris had gotten in touch with Lanez following the incident. She has previously said she believes, based on what Harris said to her, that Lanez is doing financial favors for Harris to keep her from testifying about the shooting.
Harris arrived in court on Wednesday with a criminal defense attorney, who told the judge that she planned to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and the parties proceeded into Judge David Herriford's chambers, Rolling Stone reported. Herriford then ruled her concerns about self-incrimination were legitimate and allowed her to plead the fifth, but prosecutors offered her immediate "use immunity," limiting the circumstances under which she could reasonably claim a fear of prosecution. They added their office has no current investigation into Harris.
It didn't improve her testimony.
"I don’t care to be here today," Harris told Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta, according to Law & Crime. "I mean, it’s a trigger situation."
When asked what aspect of testifying was triggering, she said, "Anxiety. Postpartum. Currently dealing with a death. I just do not want to be here."
"I mean, this has happened in the face of a million people," she added, mentioning that she felt hurt by Megan Thee Stallion's statements about her.
"She painted the picture that I betrayed her, she’s painted the picture that I’m this bad person, bad friend, that I took hush money. There are many lies," she said, according to Variety.
Harris testified that she'd met Lanez at a Roc Nation brunch with Megan Thee Stallion in early 2020, after which Megan Thee Stallion tried to set them up, according to Rolling Stone. After that, she said they "kind of had some communication," according to Law & Crime, adding, "We had a few nights, you know, where we were engaged," in what she clarified was "more than a friendship."
But then Harris went back to Texas, where she caught Covid, and remained out of Los Angeles for several months, during which Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion got closer — which her former friend also testified to, though she termed their relationship as more of a friendship.
Harris returned to L.A. shortly before Jenner's party, which Harris repeatedly insisted on the stand wasn't "a party" but more of an informal get-together with several people. According to Harris, there was a lot of alcohol and, at one point, Megan Thee Stallion was in Jenner's kitchen making nachos while other people were outside swimming and playing beer pong. She said everyone continued drinking and hanging out for several hours and that, at one point, she went inside and passed out from having had too much to drink.
When she woke up, Lanez had already arrived — Megan Thee Stallion testified that he came at her invitation — and, according to Harris, was flirting. She testified that her friend was acting "off," describing the female rapper as "doing this laughing, just obnoxiously," according to Law & Crime.
Harris also testified that she was the one who told her friend that she didn't look as good as when they had arrived and suggested they leave.
RELATED: Prosecutors: Tory Lanez Shot Megan Thee Stallion After She Insulted His Music
"'Your appearance isn’t together, let’s go,'" she testified having told Megan Thee Stallion, according to Law & Crime, and then said that her friend, with an "obnoxious laugh," went outside to ask Lanez to go with them. Lanez, she said, was in the pool with Jenner, though Harris testified that she didn't go outside with Megan Thee Stallion and didn't see the interaction between her, Jenner and Lanez.
She added that, when Megan Thee Stallion came back inside, she told Harris, "‘B*tch, we gotta get the f*ck out," and the two tried to leave in Lanez's car with his driver.
Harris testified that Megan Thee Stallion said she forgot her "slipper" and went back in the house, according to Variety, though her former friend testified on Tuesday that Megan Thee Stallion had refused to leave without Lanez so she went back to the get-together to grab him.
Either way, both women agree Lanez was not happy to be leaving the party, though Harris testified that Megan The Stallion told her that Jenner had asked them to leave and it was her impression that Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion had started arguing inside the home.
"The argument that took place inside carried on," she testified, according to Variety.
At some point, she testified, Lanez revealed to Harris that he and Megan Thee Stallion were in a relationship, and Harris said she was "upset, confused" by the revelation and that she and her then-friend began to fight about what Harris viewed as Megan Thee Stallion's "disloyalty," Variety reported.
"There was so much going back and forth, name calling: me and Megan; Tory and Megan; Tory and me; Megan and Tory," she said, according to the magazine.
"They were both going back and forth about artistry, I guess,” she said, according to Law & Crime. “We’re all just taking jabs at each other."
She confirmed, without repeating it, that Lanez called her and Megan Thee Stallion "b*tches and hoes," to which the Houston rapper testified on Tuesday.
But when asked about the crime itself, Harris repeatedly told prosecutors that her memory was "hazy" and a "blur," and denied statements she made in September implicating Lanez in the shooting. She also asked prosecutors to repeat questions, claiming she was "zoning out."
In a recorded September interview played in court to refresh her memory — which Harris then disavowed — she said that, after Megan Thee Stallion got out of the car, Lanez had threatened to shoot her, and she said she told him, "'Alright, if you shoot me, you shoot me, I guess it’s my time to go.'" She also said in the interview that she witnessed Lanez reach for the center glovebox and that she saw him firing the gun out the window of the vehicle "aiming the gun straight but always in a downward direction toward Megan," according to Rolling Stone.
On Wednesday, she testified "some of those things I stated, they were not accurate," the magazine reported. "The night was a blur. We were under the influence."
She said her three texts to Megan Thee Stallion's bodyguard — which read "Help," "Tory shot meg" and "911" — were based on "assumptions."
“I didn’t see him, and I told you that. I didn’t see him do that,” she testified after being asked whether Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion, according to Law & Crime. “I didn’t see him do that.”
She testified, at the moment of the shooting, that she was getting out of the car herself.
She tried to claim immunity about whether Lanez had threatened her with a gun, but eventually responded, "Yes, ma'am," to the question of whether she remembered saying it and then claimed the fifth when asked to repeat it.
"I don’t know," she said when asked what Lanez said to her in the car, according to Law & Crime. "It don’t matter to me. I just, I don’t want to be here."
She said she was no longer clear on whether Lanez had offered her and Megan Thee Stallion a million dollars for their silence after the shooting occurred.
"Kelsey, at some point in this case, did Tory try to bribe you?” she was asked, according to Law & Crime.
“Um,” she said. “Not just me.”
She then denied the offer of a million dollars was a bribe, claiming it wasn't offered in exchange for “not saying anything." Ultimately, she said, “He mentioned a million dollars…I guess it was just about the case.”
Harris also claimed to not remember whether Megan Thee Stallion — famously a Houston native whom she met when the two were freshmen at Prairie View A&M University in Texas in 2013 — was from Texas.
"I don’t know where she’s from," she said, according to Law & Crime. "Bexar County? I’m from Victoria, Texas." (Megan Thee Stallion was born in San Antonio but moved to Houston — in Harris County — as an infant.)
She also claimed not to remember the apology Lanez made over the phone to her from jail the following evening, which was recorded.
"That night, I don’t remember an apology," she said, according to Law & Crime. “Again, it was a blur."
She also claimed not to remember Megan Thee Stallion being injured and bleeding after the shooting in the back of the Escalade.
“What happened between September and today that you forgot everything?” D.A. Ta asked, according to Rolling Stone.
"I told you what I’m going through," Harris said.
She was however very clear that she did not shoot Megan Thee Stallion, saying she never touched the gun.
“I mean, it’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous,” she said of the theory that she shot her then-employer.
Her testimony was set to continue on Thursday.
