By Terrance Turner
Nov. 4, 2022
Last night, rapper Drake and 21 Savage released a long-awaited joint project, Her Loss. Drake’s been trending at No. 1 on Twitter for hours — not just because people who like the album but because of the (many) disuses scattered throughout the record. One of them takes aim at rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
On the track “Circo Loco,” Drake raps, “This bitch lie about getting shots, but she still a stallion/She don’t even get the joke but she still smiling.” — an apparent reference to the infamous shooting in 2020 that left Megan seriously injured.
Context
On July 12, 2020, Megan and two others were riding in a car with Canadian rapper Tory Lanez when an argument broke out. Officers received reports of shots fired outside a home in the Hollywood Hills. According to Variety, Lanez was arrested for possession of a concealed weapon. Lanez was arrested on felony charges at 4:40 a.m. Sunday and released on a $35,000 bond around six hours later.
Three days later, Megan released a statement that explained the incident. She said, in part: “On Sunday morning, I suffered gunshot wounds, as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me. I was never arrested. The police officers drove me to the hospital where I underwent surgery to remove the bullets. I’m incredibly grateful to be alive and that I’m expected to make a full recovery.” She added, “I was shot in both of my feet.”
Megan did not name her assailant, and the LAPD said that she did not report being a victim of any crime. However, Megan revealed in August that Tory Lanez had shot her. She said she hadn’t initially reported the shooting due to concerns about police brutality.
“Yes this n—a Tory shot me,” Megan says in an Instagram Live video. “You shot me, and you got your publicist and your people going to these blogs lyin’ and s–t. Stop lyin’. Why lie?” She added: “All this s–t goin’ on with the police? Police is shootin’ motherf–kers for anything. The police was literally killin’ Black people for no motherf–kin’ reason. Soon as the police tell us all get out the motherf–kin’ car, the police is really aggressive. You think I’m bout to tell the police that we, n—as, us Black people, got a gun in the car? You want me to tell the law we got a gun in the car so they can shoot all of us up?”
Tory’s Response
Lanez denied shooting Megan. In September 2020, he dropped a 17-song album called Daystar — which, according to Variety, references the shooting on nearly every track. “How the f–k you get shot in your foot, don’t hit no bones or tendons?” he asked on one song. Later, he adds, “I would never put you in no danger — and if I did, you would’ve said it when you seen the cops.”
In September 2020, Lanez was charged. The New York Times reported that Lanez was charged with one count of assault with a semi-automatic handgun and one count of carrying unregistered, loaded firearm in the vehicle. He faces up to 22 years and 8 months in prison if convicted. The judge issued a protective order against Lanez, according to Rap-Up. The judge ordered him to stay at least 100 yards away from Megan and not contact her. He also had to surrender any guns he owns.
“Black Women Are So Unprotected”
During a preliminary hearing last year, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Ryan Stogner testified that he spoke with Megan Thee Stallion and that she told him that she heard Lanez say, “Dance, bitch,” before he fired at her at about 4:30 a.m. July 12, 2020. According to CBS News, she was “bleeding profusely” and fell to the ground.
The detective said Megan Thee Stallion told police that Lanez “offered her money” and begged her not to say anything, telling her that he was on probation. Stogner testified that Megan was “scared he was going to get in trouble” and was concerned that the police might shoot Lanez. She was “visibly distraught” and crying when she admitted Lanez shot her, Stogner said.
The detective’s testimony confirmed Megan’s account. Yet many people (inside and outside the industry) chose not to believe her. Worse yet, some made it into a joke. Harper’s Bazaar points out: “When news broke about Megan’s attack, Twitter erupted with misogynistic memes from Black users centered on her ass, boobs, and knees, implying that the loss of her sexual appeal mattered more than her actual life. Her face was superimposed on Ricky Baker’s (played by Morris Chestnut) when he is shot in the film Boyz N The Hood and Madame Vera Walker’s (played by Della Reese) when her pinky toe is shot in Harlem Nights.“
Rapper 50 Cent shared the meme depicting Megan as Ricky from “Boyz n’ the Hood.” (The character was killed in a drive by shooting). Megan later noted: “Black women are so unprotected.”
Rapper Cam’ron went even further, sharing a meme that added transphobia to the mix:
Image: Instagram.com/mr_camron
And then, in July 2021, rapper DaBaby added insult to (literal) injury during his now-infamous Rolling Loud set. After Megan performed at the Miami music festival, DaBaby went onstage to perform his set. He performed “Crybaby,” the track Megan featured him on. And then, with Megan still on the premises, he brought Tory out on stage:
Legal Repercussions
Tory violated the restraining order by performing onstage at the festival while Megan was there. And the judge noticed. In August 2021, a judge ordered Tory Lanez to pay $250,000 bail for violating the order. He was handcuffed in court and was taken into custody, per Yahoo! News.
Consequently, Tory faced additional legal drama. In October, a judge ordered that Tory be placed on house arrest. Judge David Herriford rejected the prosecution’s motion seeking to have the 30-year-old musician to be taken into custody without bail. Herriford ordered the rapper to be placed on electronic monitoring and house arrest between Friday and his next court date. He’s still on house arrest.
And DaBaby has yet to apologize to Megan for bringing her assailant around OR for sharing this tone-deaf tweet around the time of Rolling Loud:
Now, Drake has turned the situation into a bar, proving he doesn’t really take it seriously, either. (Update: Rapper Lil Yachty has waded into the controversy. He says Drake wasn’t trying to take shots at Megan and was instead talking about girls who get plastic surgery. That’s plausible. But Drake himself still hasn’t clarified what he meant. And choosing not to clarify after 24 hours is certainly a choice.)
Reaction
Megan fired back, as she often does. “I know I’m very popular but y’all gotta stop attaching weak ass conspiracy theories in bars to my name,” she began. Then she went further: (NSFW):
She wasn’t the only one to criticize Drake. The Root called Drake out today, writing: “Drake, who is arguably the most famous rapper in the world, used his platform to disparage a Black woman for no reason whatsoever. It’s pathetic that he would seemingly reference the situation at all, as if he doesn’t have a fake Jamaican accent that needs perfecting.”
The A.V. Club accused Drake of “Looking for attention and a few misogynistic-laced laughs”. The Daily Beast called Drake’s bars a “vile, misogynistic attack”. And Twitter went IN:
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