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Megan Thee Stallion Speaks Out in Tory Lanez Trial, Shares Suicidal Thoughts: NPR

December 14, 2022

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 02: Megan Thee Stallion attends the STARZ Season 2 Premiere of ‘P-Valley’ at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on June 02, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

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Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 02: Megan Thee Stallion attends the STARZ Season 2 Premiere of ‘P-Valley’ at Avalon Hollywood & Bardot on June 02, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Megan Thee Stallion spoke as a prosecution witness in singer Tory Lanez’s assault trial in Los Angeles Superior Court today, speaking for the first time explicitly about the night Lanez allegedly shot on the Houston rapper’s feet in 2020 and the residual effects of the event on his career and life.

As a key prosecution witness, Houston rapper, real name Megan Pete, described her account of the night of July 12, 2020, officially claiming the assault was the result of an argument she had with Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, and Kelsey Harris, her former best friend and assistant, as she drove home from an early morning pool party in Hollywood Hills.

Dressed in a purple suit, red stockings, black stilettos and a black bob hairstyle, Pete, 27, testified that the shooting and its aftermath impacted her health, both physical and mental. “I can’t even be happy,” she said, her voice cracking during her afternoon testimony. “I can’t hold a conversation with people for a long time. I don’t want to be on this earth. I would have liked him to shoot me and kill me, if I had known that I would have to suffer this torture.”

The Grammy winner shared that she and Peterson had an intimate but not exclusive relationship in 2020, one that Harris was unaware of at the time. Pete knew Harris had a “crush” on Tory, so she hid the relationship. (When asked specifically why she hadn’t previously revealed the nature of her relationship with Peterson, Pete said she was embarrassed, “because it’s disgusting at this point. How could I share my body with someone who could do this to me?”)

The fight in the vehicle began when Peterson alluded to the relationship with Harris, then tried to turn the two women against each other, calling them “bitches and hoes” in the car.

The timeline of events leading up to Tory Lanez's assault trial

Pete testified that after getting out of the vehicle a second time on the drive home, Peterson yelled at him, “Dance, bitch,” then fired five shots at her from the passenger side, kicking her in the feet. “I felt shocked. I felt hurt. I wasn’t sure if this was really happening. I looked at my feet, saw the blood and fell to the ground,” the star testified of “WAP”.

When specifically asked to change his story to police on the night of the shooting — from walking through glass to being allegedly shot by Peterson — Pete gave his chosen context at the time, starting with his distrust of towards the police.

“I don’t feel safe in the car. I don’t feel safe with the police,” Pete said through tears as she described the aftermath of the incident, when responding officers took her, Peterson, Harris and Jaquan Smith, Peterson’s bodyguard. , get out of the vehicle in which they were arrested.

Pete, who shared that she grew up deeply suspicious of cops, said distrust was further fueled by the climate of 2020, the murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests: “In the black community – in my community – it’s not really acceptable to be cooperating with the police.”

Pete then briefly explained how “women are not believed when they speak”. George Mgdesyan, Peterson’s lawyer, objected on the grounds that the comment was tangential to the case.

Beyond the fear of the police and questions surrounding the survivor’s credibility, Pete also shared concerns that Peterson’s involvement could negatively impact her career in hip-hop.

“It only made it worse for me and it only made him more famous,” Pete said during his morning testimony. “Because I was shot, I was turned into some kind of bad guy, and he’s the victim. It’s ruined my whole life… This whole situation in the industry is like a big guys club. boys… I’m telling one of your friends, now you’re all about to hate me.”

Pete testified that she crawled into the driveway to the left of the SUV after being shot, but eventually got back into the car. In her testimony, she said that as the group walked away, Peterson immediately told Harris and Pete that he would give them $1 million each if they did not tell the police and said that he was on probation for a previous weapons offense. Throughout the trial, Peterson’s defense repeated repeatedly that Peterson had never been on probation.

The afternoon cross-examination reached a boiling point when defense attorney Mgdesyan hinted in his questioning that Pete’s career had taken off since that shooting, and even used creepy quotes around of the word “shot”. Pete replied “why did you do that [gestures scare quote] I got shot.”

While Pete was on the stand, Peterson, dressed in a cream suit and white turtleneck, sat quietly in the defense chair, sporadically taking notes and avoiding eye contact with her.

Pete also shared new details about his contact with Peterson after the night, saying he continued to contact her after the shooting to apologize. According to Pete, he texted her from an unknown number to tell her he was watching her during an Instagram Live and could see the “pain in my eyes.” She said she replied, “Why are you bothering me? Why are you weird? You just shot me and now you’re telling me you’re watching me?”

Because social media has played a vital role in catalyzing public debate over this case, Pete’s revelation that Peterson watched her on Instagram is particularly striking.

With each development of this case, numerous public figures and outlets, especially gossip blogs, have shared unsubstantiated information that has sparked a debate on social media about the validity of Pete and Peterson’s versions of events. This online public debate materialized in real life when supporters of the two artists flocked to the courthouse to testify.

Peterson faces three felony charges; assault with a semi-automatic firearm, possession of a concealed and unregistered firearm, careless discharge of a firearm. If convicted, Peterson faces up to 22 years in prison and/or possible deportation to Canada.

Kelsey Harris is scheduled to be called to the witness box by the prosecution on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.