Megan Thee Stallion has said she will “never be the same” after being shot in the feet by fellow rap star Tory Lanez, as a judge prepares to sentence him.
Megan, a triple Grammy Award winner, wrote a victim impact statement that was read in court on the first day of the sentencing hearing on Monday.
She told his trial last year that Lanez shot her in an argument while leaving a party at Kylie Jenner's home in 2020. Prosecutors have asked the judge to give Lanez a 13-year jail sentence.
His lawyers argued he should just get probation and a drug treatment programme. He is expected to be sentenced later on Tuesday. On Monday, Megan's statement was read in court by Los Angeles County's deputy district attorney. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” it said, according to US media.
“Slowly but surely, I'm healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
The star said she struggled with whether to give the statement in person, but “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again”.
Megan, 28, said she had been “tormented and terrorised”, adding that she “spiralled to a dark, angry place” when Lanez mocked her trauma. “His crime warrants the full weight of the law,” she said. Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, has had seven US top 10 albums in the past seven years. Megan told the trial that Lanez opened fire after she mocked his musical talents.
Other witnesses who spoke on Monday included Lanez's father, who talked emotionally about the effect on his son of the death of his mother when he was 11, and a prison chaplain, who said Lanez had been leading daily prayer groups.
The 31-year-old has been in custody since being found guilty in December of assault with a semi-automatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
The judge said he had received more than 70 letters in support of Lanez from his family and friends, including rapper Iggy Azalea, who called for a sentence that would be “transformative, not life-destroying”.
- How the Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial played out
- Tory Lanez guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion
The shooting happened when the pair left Jenner's home with his bodyguard and her friend and assistant Kelsey Harris in an SUV in the early hours of 12 July 2020.
Megan, real name Megan Pete, told the court she got into an argument with Lanez over their previous sexual relationship. The row escalated and led to the pair insulting each other's careers. She said she demanded to be let out of the vehicle, at which point Lanez started shooting at the ground and shouted at her to “dance”.
But Lanez has maintained his innocence, with his lawyers suggesting Ms Harris may have shot her friend after discovering the relationship because she had a “crush” on him and was jealous.
Ms Harris denied that. However, on the witness stand she backtracked on previous statements that Lanez was the shooter, instead telling the trial she did not see who shot Megan.
Bitter dispute
Megan initially told police she injured her feet by stepping on broken glass but later revealed she had been shot, and the dispute continued on social media and in the pair's songs. Fans of the two stars – and some famous names in the hip-hop world – also took sides as they disagreed about who was telling the truth.
In Elle magazine in April, Megan called the guilty verdict “a victory for every woman who has ever been shamed, dismissed, and blamed for a violent crime committed against them”.
“We can't control what others think, especially when the lies are juicier than the truth,” she said.
— CutC by bbc.com
