Megan Thee Stallion is shot by Tory Lanez in Los Angeles

Why it matters

July 12, 2020. After a Hollywood Hills pool party at Kylie Jenner's house, Megan Thee Stallion was shot in both feet by Tory Lanez (Daystar Peterson) during an argument in the back of an SUV in the early morning hours. Megan walked to a nearby house. Police arrested everyone in the vehicle, including Megan, initially treating her as a possible suspect. She told police at the scene she had stepped on glass. Weeks later, she publicly identified Lanez as the shooter on Instagram. The ensuing two-and-a-half-year legal saga was one of the most-covered rap-adjacent criminal cases of the early 2020s. Lanez denied the shooting publicly. He continued releasing music. He was convicted in December 2022 of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying an unregistered loaded firearm, and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He was sentenced in August 2023 to ten years in California state prison. Megan, throughout, was the subject of widespread internet harassment and disinformation, including from other prominent figures in the rap industry. The case is one of the most disturbing recent episodes in the rap industry's long history of failing to take violence against women seriously. You should remember it that way.