Megan Thee Stallion on Thursday obtained a civil restraining order against Tory Lanez, the rapper who is serving a 10-year prison sentence after shooting her nearly five years ago.
The Houston native, 29, became emotional as she testified remotely before Los Angeles Judge Richard Bloom that Lanez, 32, had presided over a “campaign of harassment” against her during her impropriety. Billboard reported on Thursday.
Judge Richard Bloom ruled that Lanez must not contact Megan in any way, including through intermediaries, for a period of five years.
The Sweetest Pie artist, whose full name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, said she feared Lanez would seek violent retaliation against her after he was released from custody.
“It seems like I have to relive it every day,” Megan Thee Stallion told the court. ‘The person who shot me won’t let me forget it. I’m afraid that when he gets out of prison he’ll still be angry with me… I feel like maybe he’ll shoot me again and maybe this time I won’t make it.’
The Grammy winner told the court that Lanez, behind bars, has overseen a “campaign of harassment” aimed at “terrorizing” her and that she is “simply tired of being harassed.”
Megan Thee Stallion, 29, obtained a civil restraining order against Tory Lanez on Thursday. Photographed last year in New York.
Lanez is serving a 10-year prison sentence after shooting him nearly five years ago; pictured September 2023
Judge Bloom said Megan provided ample evidence that Lanez had demonstrated a “credible threat of violence” that “serves no legal purpose” and is intended to “seriously” harass her.
The Cry Baby singer, who said she hasn’t “been at peace” since the shooting in July 2020, told the judge, “Thank you, judge,” after the restraining order was granted.
Megan’s attorneys told the court that Lanez was still trying to confuse the public about the details of his criminal case, with a false story filed on X/Twitter last fall claiming he had been found “not guilty” in the appeals court, the outlet reported. .
Megan’s legal team said in a lawsuit filed federally in October that Lanez hired YouTuber and social media personality Milagro Gramz to act as his “spokesperson and puppet” while the rapper serves his prison sentence.
Megan’s attorneys said in legal filings in December that Lanez (whose real name is Daystar Peterson) had worked with outsiders to “harass, intimidate and antagonize her,” and that a criminal restraining order initially put in place over the shooting had not been enforced. force after Lanez’s conviction.
“While (Lanez) recklessly distorts and ignores the truth in his desperate attempt to appeal his conviction, his false claims have reignited a series of negative, harmful and defamatory comments directed at” Megan, her legal team said.
Lanez’s attorneys responded in court papers that Megan “disagrees with free speech” and that the request for the restraining order was essentially an attempt to “weaponize the justice system.”
Lanez’s legal team said: “Instead of refuting the comment or debating the issues… (Megan) has succumbed to the current trend of using the legal system in an attempt to cancel those opinions with which she disagrees.” .
The Grammy winner was photographed at a Chicago Bulls game on December 21.
Lanez must not communicate with Megan in any way, including through intermediaries, for a period of five years. Photographed in London in July 2019.
Lanez was convicted in December 2022 of assault with a semi-automatic firearm; keeping a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and firing the firearm with gross negligence.
In August 2023, Lanez received a 10-year prison sentence in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, in connection with three felony convictions in the July 2020 incident in Hollywood Hills.
At sentencing, Judge David Herriford said the positive portrait Lanez’s family and friends had painted in their trial testimony was “difficult to reconcile” with his actions toward Megan.
“Sometimes good people do bad things,” Herriford told the court, according to the AP. “Actions have consequences and in this case there are no winners.”
At trial, Megan testified that Lanez had shot her in the feet and yelled at her to dance while getting out of a van after a party at Kylie Jenner’s house.
Megan, who initially did not publicly identify Lanez as the shooter, testified that she had to undergo surgery to remove bullet fragments from her feet.
“Since the defendant brutally shot me, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” the singer said in a statement read by a prosecutor before the sentencing. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I’ll never be the same.”
Before his sentence was read, Lanez, who faced up to 22 years in prison, had asked the judge for a short sentence or probation, expressing regret about the incident in retrospect.
Megan was seen leaving the Los Angeles Superior Court at the December 2022 trial.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said, “I hope that Ms. Pete’s bravery gives hope to those who feel helpless.”
“If I could reverse the series of events that night and change them, I would,” Lanez told the judge. ‘The victim was my friend. The victim is someone I still care about to this day. I take full responsibility for everything I did wrong that night.
Lanez was given 10 months credit for time served, as he has been in custody since his conviction in December.
Lanez’s main lawyer, José Báez, said he was “extremely disappointed” with the sentence and considered it was “to set an example” since the rapper is a celebrity, adding: “He is not an example, he is a human being”.
Báez added: “I have seen vehicular homicides and other cases in which there is death, and the defendant still gets less than 10 years.”
Lanez’s lawyers said their next step is to appeal the verdict and request the rapper’s release on bail in the meantime.
Prosecutors spoke positively of Megan for her strength in coming forward amid online hate and ridicule directed at her for the incident involving Lanez.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said, “I hope that Ms. Pete’s bravery gives hope to those who feel helpless.”
The Sweetest Pie artist said she feared Lanez (pictured in 2018 in Atlanta) would seek violent retaliation against her after he was released from custody.
in a she In an article published in August 2023, Megan discussed the lessons she considered crucial in the wake of Lanez’s sentencing.
“Anyone who has survived violence, know that your feelings are valid,” he said. ‘You matter. It’s not your fault. You are important. You are loved. You are not defined by your trauma.’
She continued, “Just because you’re in a bad situation doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.” Our value does not come from other people’s opinions. As long as you stand firm and live in your truth, no one can take your power away.’
Lanez stated that he would not apologize to the singer in a statement he issued on his Instagram page following the sentencing.
“This week in court I took responsibility for all the verbal and intimate moments I shared with the parties involved,” he said. ‘That’s all.’
He continued: ‘In no way was I apologizing for the charges I am being wrongly convicted of. I maintain the stance that I refuse to apologize for something I didn’t do…tough times don’t last, tough people do.’