Megan Thee Stallion on Thursday obtained a civil restraining order against Tory Lanez, the rapper who’s serving a 10-year prison sentence after shooting her nearly five years ago.
The Houston native, 29, was emotional as she testified remotely to Los Angeles Judge Richard Bloom that Lanez, 32, had presided over a ‘campaign of harassment’ against her during his incorrection, Billboard reported Thursday.
Judge Richard Bloom ruled Lanez must not contact Megan in any form, including through intermediaries, for a five-year period.
The Sweetest Pie artist, whose full name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, said she feared that Lanez would seek violent retribution against her after he is released from custody.
‘It just 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 scared that when he gets out of jail he’s going to still be upset 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, from behind bars, has overseen a ‘campaign of harassment’ intended to ‘terrorize her’ and that she is ‘just tired of being harassed.’
Judge Bloom said Megan provided ample evidence that Lanez had demonstrated a ‘credible threat of violence’ that ‘serves no lawful purpose’ and is intended to ‘seriously’ harass her.
The Cry Baby singer – who said she has not ‘been at peace’ since the shooting in July of 2020 – told the judge, ‘Thank you, judge,’ after the restraining order was granted.
Attorneys for Megan told the court that Lanez was still trying to confuse the public about the details of his criminal case, with a fake story featured on X/Twitter last fall claiming he’d been declared ‘innocent’ in appeals court, the outlet reported.
Megan’s legal team said in an October lawsuit filed federally that YouTuber and social media personality Milagro Gramz was hired to by Lanez to function as his ‘mouthpiece and puppet’ while the rapper serves his prison sentence.
Megan’s attorneys in December said in legal documents that Lanez (whose real name is Daystar Peterson) had worked with people on the outside to ‘harass, bully, and antagonize’ her, and that a criminal restraining order initially implemented over the shooting had not been in effect in the wake of Lanez’s conviction.
‘While [Lanez] distorts and recklessly disregards the truth in his desperate attempt to appeal his conviction, his false assertions have reignited a slew of negative, harmful, and defamatory comments directed to’ Megan, her legal team said.
Lanez’s lawyers replied in court docs that Megan ‘disagrees with free speech’ and the restraining order request was essentially an attempt to ‘weaponize the justice system’
Said Lanez’s legal team: ‘Rather than rebut the commentary or debate the issues … [Megan] has succumbed to the current trend of using the legal system in an attempt to cancel those opinions she disagrees with.’
Lanez was convicted in December 2022 of assault with a semiautomatic firearm; keeping a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging the firearm with gross negligence.
In August of 2023, Lanez received a 10-year prison sentence in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, in connection with three felony convictions in the July 2020 incident in the Hollywood Hills.
In the sentencing, Judge David Herriford said that the positive portrait Lanez’s relatives and friends had painted in their testimony in the trial 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 there are no winners in this case.’
In the trial, Megan testified Lanez had shot at her feet and yelled at her to dance as she was getting out of an SUV following a party at the home of Kylie Jenner.
Megan, who initially did not publicly identify Lanez as the shooter, testified she had to undergo surgery to take bullet fragments out of her feet.
‘Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,’ the songstress said in a statement a prosecutor read prior to the sentencing. ‘Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.’
Prior to his sentence being read, Lanez – who faced up to 22 years in custody – had asked the judge for a short sentence or probation, stating his regret of the incident in hindsight.
‘If I could turn back 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 for to this day. Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for.’
Lanez was credited 10 months for time served, as he has been in custody since his conviction in December.
Lanez’s lead lawyer Jose Baez said he was ‘extremely disappointed’ with the sentence, and felt that it was ‘to set an example’ since the rapper is a celebrity, adding, ‘He´s not an example – he’s a human being.’
Baez added, ‘I have seen vehicular homicide and other cases where there’s death, and the defendant still gets less than 10 years.’
Lanez’s attorneys said their next step is to appeal the verdict and ask for the rapper’s release on bail in the interim.
Prosecutors spoke positively of Megan for her fortitude in coming forward amid online hate and mockery aimed at her over the incident involving Lanez.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said, ‘I hope that Miss Pete’s bravery gives hope to those who feel helpless.’
In an Elle piece published in August of 2023, Megan opened up about the lessons she felt were crucial in the wake of Lanez’s sentencing.
‘For anyone who has survived violence, please know your feelings are valid,’ she said. ‘You matter. You are not at fault. You are important. You are loved. You are not defined by your trauma.’
She continued, ‘Just because you are in a bad situation doesn’t mean you are a bad person. Our value doesn’t come from the opinions of other people. As long as you stand your ground and live in your truth, nobody can take your power.’
Lanez stated he was not apologizing to the singer in a statement he issued on his Instagram page in the wake of the sentencing.
‘This week in court I took responsibility for all verbal and intimate moments that I shared with the parties involved,’ he said. ‘That’s it.’
He continued, ‘In no way shape or form was I apologizing for the charges I’m being wrongfully convicted of. I remain on the stance that I refuse to apologize for something that I did not do … tough times don’t last, tough people do.’
