A Los Angeles jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. He faces over 20 years in prison. The jury convicted him of negligent discharge of a firearm, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm. The court will sentence him on 27 January.
The incident took place inside a car at a Hollywood Hills party on 12 July, 2020. Megan testified that Tory got angry after she belittled his music and shot her on the feet. She had to remove several fragments of the bullet from her feet. According to her, he also offered her $1 million to not speak of it. He had allegedly been on probation for another weapons offence.
On the day of the incident, LAPD officers were responding to call where eyewitnesses reported a “shots fired” incident. They conducted a “traffic stop” and detained multiple people. Megan was brought to the hospital soon after, but she maintained she had cut her feet on broken glass. She finally made the allegations against Tory Lanez in an Instagram live on 20 August, 2020, saying that she kept quiet out of fear that she would get into further trouble if police knew there had been a shooting. Tory Lanez denied all charges, claiming that it was instead Megan’s friend Kelsey Harris who had shot her.
In July 2020, Megan took to Twitter to address the trauma she went through after the attack.
Black women are so unprotected & we hold so many things in to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own. It might be funny to y’all on the internet and just another messy topic for you to talk about but this is my real life and I’m real life hurt and traumatized.
— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) July 17, 2020
Since then, support for her has been pouring in from fans as well as others in the industry like Cardi B and Janelle Monáe.
Referrals will be went https://t.co/pvefoyromJ pic.twitter.com/ncDzKE8yxH
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) December 24, 2022
So glad Megan got the justice she deserved. This is major for her and for every other black women who has been taunted for speaking up about abuse and violence against them .
— MONALEO 🩸 (@themonaleo) December 23, 2022
The verdict has caused a renewed uproar on Twitter, but the hashtag ‘#FreeTory’ is also trending. Many staunchly believe that he is innocent. Fans and users online are vocalising their concerns regarding the safety of black women, the neglectful use of guns and issues with law enforcement. The incident and its aftermath highlights how victims of such attacks, especially women of colour, go through the fear of not being believed.
Don’t forget that Megan Thee Stallion was shot, went through unimaginable pain and fear that night, may have have bullet fragments in her feet for the rest of her life and STILL people chose to harass and villainize her. PROTECT victims. BELIEVE victims.
— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) December 23, 2022
