Megan Thee Stallion Testifies That Tory Lanez Tried to Bribe Her to Deny He Shot Her

She then recalled exiting and, as she walked away, turned her head to see his arm hanging out of the open window as he fired five times. “Dance, bitch!” Megan once again recalled him saying. She then remembered hearing screaming and detailed falling to the ground and crawling to a nearby driveway.

Within about five minutes of the shooting, Harris texted one of Megan’s security guards, “Help,’’ “Tory shot meg,’’ and “911,’’ the prosecutor said. Megan, bleeding from both feet, eventually reentered the vehicle, which was subsequently stopped by Los Angeles police. Body cam footage shown in court confirmed that the vehicle’s occupants—including a limping and bloodied Megan—were told to get out of the car. Ultimately, Megan was taken by ambulance to a hospital for surgery.

“Kelsey [Harris] will tell you that she just saw her close friend get shot by the defendant,” Bott said. Upon police involvement, the gun allegedly used by Lanez was recovered under the floorboard beneath Lanez’s seat and was still warm to the touch. Lanez and Harris both later tested positive for gunshot residue, though Megan said in court that she never saw Harris holding the firearm at any point.

“Kelsey, she’ll tell you she didn’t know if the defendant still had this gun,” Bott continued. “She didn’t know what the defendant was capable of, if he was going to continue his assault. Her defensive instincts kicked into gear, and she approached the defendant. She’ll tell you the defendant physically assaulted her at that point. He pulled her by her hair, and he either punched her or slapped her.”

Megan has previously admitted to lying to police, telling officers and doctors that the injuries sustained were not from bullets as she wanted to protect everyone involved from possible police violence.

“At the time, we are at the height of police brutality…I felt like if I said this man has just shot me, they might shoot first and ask questions later,” she said. “I didn’t feel safe in the car. I knew I just had got shot but I don’t feel safe with police either.”

“I didn’t want to see anybody die,” she added. At this point, prosecutors reportedly played footage that showed Megan in an ambulance, handcuffed to a gurney, in the immediate aftermath of being shot. In a 2021 hearing, LAPD Det. Ryan Stogner testified that following the shooting, she told him she was “extremely scared and embarrassed,’’ was “scared [Lanez] was going to get in trouble,’’ was concerned the police might shoot him, but was “sincere,’’ “visibly distraught’’ and “crying’’ when she named Lanez as the perpetrator.

“I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart…shit should have never happened and I can’t change what I did,” Lanez texted Megan following the shooting, per the prosecution. “Cuz I genuinely just got too drunk.” Megan claimed that this was not the only occasion Lanez showed remorse, noting that he attempted to contact her multiple times and, in one instance, from a phone number she didn’t recognize. The prosecution has also presented a jail house phone call from Lanez in which he apologized for his behavior on the night of shooting. Lanez’s defense countered that Lanez’s apologies were not in regard to shooting her.

Lanez has been barred from contacting Megan in any capacity and was even put in jail in April after taunting her on Twitter. He remains out on a $350,000 bond and has been under house arrest and electronic monitoring while awaiting trial. He began this week’s proceedings holding hands with his young son, who has since accompanied him in court.

Megan has been vilified by Lanez fans and industry allies like Drake, a fact she noted on the stand on Tuesday. “This whole situation in the industry is like a big boys club,” she said. “Like I’m telling on one of y’all friends, now you’re all about to hate me.”

“Because I was shot, I’ve been turned into some kind of villain, and he’s the victim,” she told the court later. “This has messed up my whole life.”

Outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, two dozen supporters from Gathering For Justice, a social justice organization, assembled in a show of support for Megan, holding a banner that read, “We Stand With Megan.”

“I think what’s so telling about Tory Lanez’s case and Megan’s testimony today is that what we’ve known is now very visible on a large scale,” Luis Hernandez told Jezebel on a phone call. “For so long, Black women have been treated with disrespect, have not been allowed their their bodily autonomy, have been coerced and pushed to do things that were not within their means…so this case alone is symbolic of the plight of Black woman.”

“We are standing in Meghan’s corner and supporting her throughout the day, ensuring that she knows there’s a community of people who are here to support her,” he said.

Just before her testimony began, #WeStandWithMegan began trending on Twitter, and in the lead up to the trial, other powerful activists and advocates have extended their solidarity. Recently, the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium shared an open letter addressed to Megan, lauding her courage and condemning all violence against women. The letter has more than two dozen powerful signees, including #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), activist Tamika Mallory, and commentator Angela Rye.

Testimony is expected from Harris, and it’s speculated that Jenner and Lanez will also take the stand.