Megan Thee Stallion testified Tuesday that Canadian rapper Tory Lanez offered her $1 million to say nothing about being shot, according to reports.
Lanez, an Ontario native whose real name is Daystar Peterson, is on trial for assault with a firearm, carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
If convicted, Lanez – who lives in Florida – faces a sentence of up to 22 years and eight months behind bars as well as deportation. The 30-year-old has pleaded not guilty.
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On the second day of the trial, Megan told jurors she got into an argument with Lanez while they were driving away from a party at Kylie Jenner’s house in July 2020. Things got more heated when her then-friend Kelsey Harris, who had a crush on Lanez, learned that the two rap stars had occasionally hooked up.
Megan said she asked to be let out of the vehicle – but quickly realized it wasn't a good idea to get out because she was wearing a thong bikini "and I look crazy, and if anybody sees me walking down the street like this, it’s going to be bad for me."
Back inside the SUV, she and Lanez swapped insults about their music careers. “Tory was basically telling me I wasn’t s**t, and I said, ‘Actually, You ain’t s**t. This is where you at in your career. This is where you at with your music.’ And I feel like that really rubbed him the wrong way," she testified. "He kept yelling and cursing."
Megan asked again to be let out of the vehicle and, as she began walking away, Lanez yelled “Dance, bitch!” and shot at her in the feet. “I’m in shock. I’m scared," she recalled. "I hear the gun going off, and I can’t believe he’s shooting at me. He was holding the gun, pointing it at me."
Megan said she crawled to a nearby driveway and saw a lot of blood. With everyone in shock, they got back into the car and drove off, with Megan trying to stop the bleeding using towels.
She testified that Lanez immediately begged her not to report the shooting. "He’s saying, ‘Please don’t say anything. I’ll give y’all a million dollars. I can’t go to jail. I already got caught with a gun before.'"
When police pulled the vehicle over, Megan said she did not tell officers she had been shot because it was the summer after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. “I felt like if I said this man has just shot me, they might shoot first and ask questions later,” she said in court. “I don’t feel safe in the car. I don’t feel safe with the police officers either.”
Megan said “in the Black community, it’s not really acceptable to be cooperating with police officers.”
Megan testified that following the incident Lanez contacted her several times to apologize.
"I couldn’t walk for a while" she told jurors. "I still have nerve damage. I can’t really feel the side of my left foot. The back of my feet are always sore.”
In June, Megan told Rolling Stone what she hopes will happen to Lanez if he is convicted. “I want him to go to jail,” she said. “I want him to go under the jail.
“I never put my hands on this man. I never did anything to him. There was an argument. People argue every day. Friends argue every day.”
Lanez has released seven studio albums since 2016, including September's Sorry 4 What, and has collected three consecutive JUNO Awards for Rap Recording of the Year. He also earned the JUNO for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year for a collaboration with Jessie Reyez and Tainy.
The rapper was briefly detained by Miami Beach Police in 2018 during a brawl outside a nightclub but was released at the scene without charges. In 2017, Lanez was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of marijuana and driving without a license after being pulled over by police in Miramar, Florida. The weapon charge was later dropped.