HOUSTON – Megan Thee Stallion has a message for singer and rapper Tory Lanez: Stop spreading lies.
“You shot me,” the Houston rapper said in a now-deleted video on Instagram Live on Thursday night. “You are scared to come to tell everyone that you (expletive) shot me. You got your whole team on the internet lying.”
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For the first time, Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, publicly accused the Canadian rapper, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, of shooting her in the feet after an argument back in July.
“He not in jail, because I didn’t tell the laws what happened as soon as it happened. And, I should have,” Pete said.
What happened?
According to an Instagram video, Pete and Peterson were hanging out poolside with Kylie Jenner at her house in Hollywood on July 11.
Early the following morning, Pete said, she, her friend, Peterson, and his security guards were all in a vehicle when they all began arguing. Pete said she was in the front seat while Peterson was in the back seat.
Pete said she got out of the vehicle because she was tired of arguing. She said while she was walking away, Peterson began to shoot at her from the back seat.
Pete said Peterson had no reason to shoot her. She said she never hit Peterson and rejected claims that she cut her feet on glass. She also denied that the alternation stemmed from jealously over Peterson’s relationship with Jenner.
Why not tell the police?
While confessing that Peterson shot her, Pete also said why she delayed naming the person who shot her to the police.
The short answer: she said she didn’t want to die.
Pete explained that with the current climate of police brutality and the countless number of Black people who have been shot and killed by the police she was afraid to tell the police the full story. She said she initially feared for her safety and the safety of everyone involved.
When the officers arrived, she said they responded aggressively and ordered everyone out of the vehicle.
“You want me to tell the laws that we got a gun in the car, so they can shoot all of us up?” the 25-year-old rapper asked in the Instagram video.
Pete said that while she was questioned by the police her foot was bleeding and there was a helicopter flying above. She said they finally let her go without any charges and she went to the hospital.
Peterson was arrested on July 12 around 4:30 a.m. and was charged with a felony, according to information from the Los Angeles Sheriff Department. He is currently out of jail on a $35,000 bail.
At the hospital, Pete said, doctors completed x-rays on her feet. She was informed that she had bullets and bullet fragments in both feet. She said that while at the hospital she still didn’t reveal who shot her.
“Even though he shot me, I tried to spare him. And y’all (expletive) are not sparing me. That’s crazy,” she said.
Public backlash
For more than a month, Pete has faced public scrutiny regarding the shooting. Earlier this week, in a now-deleted Instagram video, she shared a photo of her foot injury, after many refused the believe she was shot.
Celebrities such as Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Chrissy Teigen and reality star Draya Michele (who later lost her endorsement deal with Rihanna’s Fenty brand) made jokes about the incident while some social media users said she made the story up. However, Pete has spoken out several times. A few days after the shooting, Pete said someone intentionally shot her.
“I suffered gunshot wounds, as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me,” Pete wrote on Instagram on July 15.
Being a Black woman
Despite the fallout, many Black women, including Beyoncé, Rihanna and Asian Doll, have come out to support Pete during this time. Pete shared she believes that much of the backlash she has faced is because she is a Black woman.
“Stop acting like Black women are the problem. Stop acting like Black women are aggressive when all they are doing is speaking the (expletive) facts,” she said.
Pete said she goes through a lot on a daily basis, and she just wants to focus on making music. She is also pursuing a degree at Texas Southern University.
“I am not that type of person. But, I am not going to let y’all keep playing in my face,” she said.