Megan Thee Stallion asked a court on Tuesday to issue a restraining order against Tory Lanez, who she says is harassing her from prison through surrogates as he serves a 10-year sentence for shooting her in the feet back in 2020 in Los Angeles.
The petition filed by the hip-hop star in Los Angeles Superior Court asks the judge to prevent the Canadian rapper Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, from using third parties to continue the same online harassment of Megan, whose legal name is Megan Pete, that he engaged in and encouraged before his imprisonment.
“Even now, while behind bars, Mr. Peterson shows no signs of stopping,” the petition says. “Despite being sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Ms. Pete, Mr. Peterson continues to to subject her to repeated trauma and revictimization.”
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An email from The Associated Press seeking comment from Lanez’s lawyers was not immediately returned. A court hearing on the order is scheduled for Jan. 9.
The filing says bloggers acting on Lanez’s behalf continue to cast doubt on her allegations, making false claims including that the gun and bullet fragments in the case are missing. It also comes after Pete filed a lawsuit in October against blogger Milagro Gramz, accusing Gramz of purposely spreading false information on behalf of Lanez.
That lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of Florida against Gramz, a popular content creator who is legally known as Milagro Elizabeth Cooper. The lawsuit accuses Cooper of intentionally causing Pete emotional distress by cyberstalking, promoting and sharing deepfake pornography of Pete and questioning if she was actually shot.
Tuesday’s petition says a protective order issued to prevent previous harassment is no longer in effect, which it calls a loophole and flaw in the criminal justice system. Lanez is being held at a California prison in rural Tehachapi.
In December 2022, Lanez was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
A judge rejected a motion for a new trial from Lanez’s lawyers, who are appealing his conviction.
In August of last year, he received the 10-year sentence, bringing what seemed to be a conclusion to a three-year legal and cultural saga that saw two careers, and lives, thrown into turmoil.
Megan testified during the trial that in July 2020, after they left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home, Lanez fired the gun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding. She revealed who had fired the gun only months later.
The case created a firestorm in the hip-hop community, churning up issues including the reluctance of Black victims to speak to police, gender politics in hip-hop, online toxicity, protecting Black women and the ramifications of misogynoir, a particular brand of misogyny Black women experience.
