Source: Erik Voake / Getty
Yesterday evening, Megan Thee Stallion got on Instagram Live and finally confirmed that Tory Lanez was the man who shot her in both of her feet.
She did so after first exposing the extent of her foot injuries to quell of some the rumors that she had never actually been shot and was faking her injury for…clout?
The confession came in waves. First, Megan tweeted:
Apparently, she had enough reason to go public with the truth of what happened to her that night.
On Instagram she said,
“So, since y’all hoes so worried bout it. Yes, this n*gga Tory shot me. You shot me and you got your publicist and your people going to these blogs lying and sh*t. Stop lying. Why lie? I don’t understand. I tried to keep the situation off the internet but you dragging it. You really f*cking dragging it.
Muhf*ckas talking bout I hit this n*gga. I never hit you. Muhf*ckas was like, ‘Oh she’s mad because he’s trying to f*ck with Kylie. No I wasn’t. You dry shot me. Like, everybody in the car…it’s only four muhf*ckas in the car. Me, you, my homegirl, and your security. Everybody in the car arguing. I’m in the front seat, this n*gga in the backseat. I get out the car. I’m done arguing. I don’t want to argue no more. I get out. I’m walking away. This n*gga from out the backseat of the car starts shooting me. You shot me! I didn’t get cut by no glass. But let me tell you why they saying that. Because the people in the neighborhood there’s a witness. The neighbors called the police. This did not happen at Kylie house. We was five minutes away from where I’m staying at. I was just trying to get home.
The police come. I’m scared. All this stuff that’s going on with the police. The police is shooting muhf*ckas for anything. The police was literally killing Black people for no muthaf*cking reason. You think I’m about to tell the police that we, n*ggas, got a gun in the car?! You think I’m about to tell them we got a gun in the car so they can shoot all of us up. N*gga I’m scared, it’s a f*cking helicopter above us and some more sh*t. Why the f*ck would I tell the laws somebody got a gun in this car and somebody shot me?
I didn’t tell the police immediately what happened right then because I didn’t want to die. I’m leaking. I’m bleeding. Muhf*ckas talking about I’m lying. Did I pay a helicopter to come over me and record my feet leaking blood? No! How the f*ck I’m gonna fake that. I didn’t tell the police nothing because I didn’t want us to get in more trouble than we was already about to get in.
I get to the muhf*cking hospital, the police b*tch being so rude to me. ‘Well, what’s going on?! You’re being detained.’ Ma’am?! I’m being detained? I’m leaking! But I’m still not saying sh*t. The police finally let me go. I didn’t go to jail. Them three muthaf*ckas went to jail.
I get to the hospital. The doctors do the x ray on my feet. ‘Oh ma’am you got bullets in your feet. You got bullet fragments in your other foot.’ I’m thinking the doctors is the police so I’m still trying not to tell them. I’m scared. Like I’ve never been shot before. I don’t have to lie about that. Why would I lie? You want me to be a bad person so bad.
Stop trying to come on the internet acting like a Black woman, a grown ass Black woman really got any reason to be lying on a Black man when all the sh*t f*cked up going on in the world right now. If you really want to tell the truth, I tried to save this n*gga. Even though he shot me, I tried to spare him. And y’all muhf*ckas is not sparing me. That’s crazy. That’s f*cked up.
I tried to save n*ggas and y’all on the internet, ‘B*tch you ain’t get shot. Free Tory.’ That n*gga not in jail. He not in jail because I didn’t tell the laws what happened as soon as it happened and I should have. I’m smart. I didn’t have to spare that n*gga. I didn’t have to spare nobody but I did and I’m done. Y’all asking where people at, why ain’t nobody sayin nothing. Ask them why they’re not saying nothing. I don’t lie. I don’t have to lie.
Ask that n*gga why he not saying nothing. What the f*ck he gon get on here and say, ‘Yeah, I shot her.’ Why? Tell em why you shot me. No reason.
Stop f*cking lying on me. Stop acting like Black women is the muhf*cking problem. Stop acting like Black women is aggressive when all they be doing is speaking the muhf*cking facts and you m*hf*ckas can’t handle it. Stop getting on the internet spreading lies. Stop lying on people. Truth muthaf*cking is, you shot me. You scared to come tell everybody that you shot me and you got your whole team on the internet lying trying to cover your muthaf*ckin ass.
Y’all n*ggas don’t know no code. Y’all n*ggas don’t know no loyalty. Don’t play in my face no more.”
Megan was shot over a month ago and held the identity of her shooter until last night. And in her quest to protect a Black man from the police, she has become the villain in a story where she’s the victim. I can’t imagine enduring the trauma of being shot at close range by someone you know only to have your story used a fodder or questioned entirely. Megan endured two sets of trauma. One from Tory’s violence and an additional one having to defend herself to the people of the internet who couldn’t be bothered to have compassion for a Black woman in physical, emotional and psychological pain.
The same men who had plenty to say about her lyrical content have gone silent when it comes to the violence carried out against her at the hand of a Black man in the music industry. Megan deserves tweets, Instagram videos, and entire social media campaign disparaging Tory’s actions and lifting her up. But I’d bet good money that what she’ll get instead is crickets.
Sadly, it’s not just Black men who are adding insult to injury. Black women, who have also internalized misogyny, are arguing that they need to hear Tory’s side as if anything he could or would say would rationalize him shooting a woman inside of a vehicle.
My heart aches for Megan knowing that as she was trying to protect a Black man from the police, so many in the community would not step up and show her that same support.
It makes you wonder for all of our conditioning to protect, uplift and cover the Black man, what do we get in return?
For Megan, a woman with fame, money and influence, it was internet jokes and memes, questions about her story, theories about her being the aggressor, and now, reprimands for her snitching.
For Oluwatoyin Salau, who was marching and speaking out on behalf of Black men, it was her life at the hands of another Black man, who raped and tortured her before killing her.
And there are thousands of Black women whose names we will never know who have suffered and are currently suffering this same twisted fate.
What is the point in rallying for Black men who have been brutalized or killed by the police only for them to enact violence against us or remain silent when they see it?
It’s exhausting.
I know with the way we’ve been raised and socialized, it will be difficult. But I would love for Black women to abandon the notion that we have to protect the very people who do us emotional, physical, and mental harm, even if they are our brothers.
