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'I'm Not On Trial!' Megan Thee Stallion Unloads In Emotional Testimony At Tory Lanez Shooting Trial
Rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion testified that she and the man who allegedly shot her had a "friends with benefits" style relationship, and he revealed it to her best friend who had a crush on him, starting a fight.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion testified under oath on Tuesday that Tory Lanez shot her feet after they had an argument, but that she sometimes wishes he'd killed her instead.
Megan Thee Stallion, whose given name is Megan Pete, was shot after leaving a party at Kylie Jenner's Los Angeles home in the early morning hours of July 12, 2020 with her then-friend and assistant Kelsey Harris, Canadian rapper Tory Lanez — whose given name is Daystar Peterson — and Harris' bodyguard/driver, Jauquan Smith.
Both prosecutors and the defense agreed in their opening statements that Megan Thee Stallion, Lanez and Harris argued in the Cadillac Escalade, which eventually pulled over to let Megan Thee Stallion and that shots were fired, striking her.
Prosecutors said that Lanez and the victim "had been intimate" at some point prior to the shooting and that, during the argument, she sarcastically referred to him as a "beautiful artist" before exiting the vehicle, bruising his ego. They also allege that Lanez then took a 9 mm pistol that Smith had brought with him, pointed it out the window and yelled "Dance b*tch" at Megan Thee Stallion before shooting.
The defense had argued that Megan and Harris had begun brawling before the shooting, after Lanez drunkenly revealed he'd been sleeping with both women — something they claimed had happened before with other men — and strongly implied that Harris had grabbed Smith's gun and shot her friend and employer.
Lanez had, in public statements, previously denied Megan Thee Stallion had been shot at all and suggested the argument happened because he was sleeping with both women, though he'd previously told an Instagram commenter that Harris was not the shooter. Prosecutors plan to call Megan's security guard, Justin Edison, who said that Lanez told him he'd been aiming at the ground during the shooting, not at Megan.
Megan Thee Stallion's testimony shed some light on the conflicting versions of events.
She confirmed Lanez's lawyers claims that she was the one who made the trio leave Jenner's party, according to the Los Angeles Times, though not their allegation that she was jealous of him hitting on Jenner or that they were asked to leave because they were too drunk. She testified instead that Lanez had joined them at her invitation but showed up quite late and, after he did, she wanted to head out, Law & Crime reported. (The shooting was reported around 4:30 a.m.)
"I was wearing a wig and it started slipping," she said, "And I was ready to go."
She did say that Lanez "had an attitude" about leaving, and then picked a fight in the car by telling her "to stop lying to your friend" — Harris — about the extent of their apparent friends-with-benefits relationship, multiple outlets reported.
In Megan Thee Stallion's retelling, she and Lanez had gotten close starting in early 2020, bonding over the deaths of their mothers but, despite having occasionally had sex with him, she only considered him a friend. And, she and Harris were close enough that she knew Harris had "a crush" on Lanez — though not that she had slept with him — and opted to keep her arrangement with him to herself.
“I never dated anyone Kelsey dated in my whole life, and Kelsey never dated anyone I date,” she testified, according to Law & Crime — refuting the defense's allegations that she'd previously slept with rapper DaBaby and Brooklyn Nets player Ben Simmons after Harris did. (DaBaby claimed in a song released in September to have slept with Megan before the shooting, though has not said anything about a relationship with Harris. Simmons has seemingly denied any connection to the case via a meme on Instagram, TMZ reported.)
Lanez's revelation to Harris that he and Megan The Stallion had slept together, and the subsequent revelation that Harris' crush had led to a sexual relationship with Lanez as well, escalated the fight to include Harris, she testified.
Megan told the jury that Lanez called the two friends, "b*tches and hoes," and went in on her in particular, "basically just telling me that I wasn’t sh*t," she testified, according multiple outlets. That's when she, in turn, insulted his musical career, which she said, "really pissed him off."
“I feel like that really rubbed him the wrong way,” she testified, according to the Associated Press. “He kept yelling and cursing.”
That's when she asked Smith to stop and let her out of the car. But, she testified, once she was outside she realized that, clad in only a thong bikini in a strange neighborhood in the middle of the night, she looked "crazy," Law & Crime reported.
“I’m literally on the brink of being so famous right now," she said of her thoughts in that moment, and became concerned about bad publicity harming her career. She began walking back to the car when, she said, she heard Lanez and Harris still screaming at one another.
“No, I’m over it. I don’t want to be in the argument anymore,” Megan testified about her thoughts in that moment, according to Law & Crime. “I started walking away from the car and I hear Tory say, ‘Dance, bitch.'”
That is when, she testified, she turned around and saw Lanez holding the gun over the Escalade's car window (which, she testified to laughter in the court, made him look taller than he is). She said she froze, and heard the gun fire.
"I’m in shock. I’m scared. I hear the gun going off. I can’t believe he’s shooting at me," Megan Thee Stallion testified, according to Law & Crime. “I felt hurt, but I wasn’t really sure this is actually happening.”
“I looked down at my feet, and I see all the blood,” she added, according to the AP. “Now everybody’s screaming. He looked shocked. Kelsey looked shocked.”
She said that she got very blurry at this point and didn't witness an alleged altercation between Harris and Lanez, saying she thought they only bumped into one another running after her as she fell to the ground and crawled onto a driveway.
She testified that she eventually got back into the car and drove off with Harris, Smith and Lanez, according to NPR, explaining that her phone was still in the car and she planned to call her manager, according to NBC News. As they were driving away, she said, Lanez offered both her and Harris $1 million to stay quiet, allegedly because he was on probation, while trying to staunch the blood with towels from Jenner's pool party. (His defense has denied he was on probation.)
The police pulled them over shortly thereafter, following 911 calls about the shooting from people in the area. They ordered everyone out and handcuffed everyone — including the injured rapper.
Video at trial showed her still handcuffed in the ambulance, crying with bloody feet.
She said she told the police she'd cut her feet on glass because she was scared of their potential reaction.
"I don't feel safe in the car," she testified, according to NPR. "I don't feel safe with the police."
She added that she'd been raised to be wary of interactions with law enforcement, a feeling that intensified after George Floyd's killing
"In the Black community — in my community — it's not really acceptable to be cooperating with police officers," she said, according to NPR.
“At the time, we are at the height of police brutality," she added, according to the L.A. Times. "I felt like if I said, ‘This man has just shot me,’ they might shoot first and ask questions later."
She added that, in her experience, women who speak out about domestic violence aren't believed and she was wary that reporting the shooting could negatively impact her career.
"This whole situation in the industry is like a big boy's club," she added. "I'm telling on one of y'all friends, now you're all about to hate me."
She also testified about the lasting effects of the shooting.
"I couldn’t walk for a while" she testified, according to NBC News. "I still have nerve damage. I can’t really feel the side of my left foot. The back of my feet are always sore, but I just push through it."
She added that her concerns about the effects on her career had come true.
"I’ve been turned into some kind of villain, and he a victim,” Megan The Stallion testified, according to Law & Crime. “This has messed up my whole life."
“This whole story has not been about the shooting. It’s only been about who I been having sex with,” she added, according to the L.A. Times. “When people talk about Megan Thee Stallion getting shot, all the headlines are Megan Thee Stallion is on trial and I’m not on trial!”
She explained under cross examination that the negative attention, including from Lanez's fans, was so based in slut-shaming her that she ultimately denied there had been any relationship with him beyond friendship.
"Because it’s disgusting," she says of her intimate moments with him, according to Law & Crime. “At this point, how could I share my body with somebody who would shoot me?”
"I feel disgusting. I feel dirty. I feel like I don’t matter," she added.
"I can't even be happy," she testified, according to NPR. "I can't hold conversations with people for a long time. I don't feel like I want to be on this earth. I wish he would have just shot and killed me, if I knew I would have to go through this torture."
“I see these tweets and Instagram posts every day,” she added, according to Law & Crime. “Every time I see something new, ‘Oh, that bitch should have got shot in the head' ... 'Too much twerk.’ ... ‘Who cares, she fucked everybody, she should have been shot.'"
Harris was expected to testify on Wednesday. Megan Thee Stallion testified that the two hadn't spoken since 2020, when she discovered Harris had reached out to Lanez after the shooting.
