Megan Thee Stallion provided an emotional testimony in a Miami courtroom in her defamation lawsuit against a social media blogger in connection to a 2020 incident where she was shot by Tory Lanez.
The 30-year-old Grammy winner, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified about her life and career before a court, building up to why she filed a defamation lawsuit against blogger Milagro Cooper in October 2024.
Pete described living in South Florida and growing up in Texas, where she chose her stage name, saying “in Texas, when you’re tall and curvy, people call you a stallion” as she went on to become known for her provocative, body-positive lyrics.
She’s accusing Cooper of being a “puppet, or mouth piece” for rapper Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.
It stems from an argument that occurred between Pete and Peterson following a party in 2020.
The pair were in a car together when Peterson shot at Pete, injuring her foot.
Peterson was found guilty on three felony counts and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023.
During Peterson’s trial, Pete claims Cooper targeted her on social media, calling her a liar, an alcoholic and produced deep fake sexual videos of her.
“Everyone felt like I deserved to get shot because I talk about sex and I twerk. I’m the one who was shot. I don’t understand why I am the bad guy in this situation,” she told the court. “Honestly, I’m still not OK. I am upset about being shot. I still haven’t even fully processed I was shot.”
She also shared she went to a facility to deal with post-traumatic stress after the shooting.
Also taking the stand was Amiel Holland-Briggs, a former social media moderator who worked with Cooper.
“Cooper’s behavior was ‘cult like’ and ‘wrong’ as she targeted Megan Thee Stallion,” he said.
He went on to explain why he would later stop working with Cooper.
“We had a lot of different arguments. The narrative that was put out, it was very very uncomfortable,” he said. “She [Cooper] was engaging in cyber bullying of other YouTubers. She was doing these weird things that I didn’t agree with.”
Pete is seeking an unspecified amount of money to cover attorney fees and other costs to remedy the alleged harm. She’s also requesting a court-ordered injunction to permanently stop Cooper from any further harassment and defamation.
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