Pop star Megan Thee Stallion seeks restraining order against rapper Tory Lanez
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American rapper Tory Lanez (right) is in jail for shooting fellow American rapper Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.
PHOTOS: REUTERS, TORYLANEZ/INSTAGRAM
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LOS ANGELES – American rapper and pop star Megan Thee Stallion has asked a court in Los Angeles to issue a restraining order against Canadian rapper Tory Lanez, who is in prison serving a 10-year sentence for shooting her in 2020.
Her lawyers said he had been waging a “campaign of harassment” against her from behind bars.
In court papers filed on Dec 17 in Superior Court in Los Angeles, Ms Mari Henderson, a lawyer for Megan Thee Stallion, said Lanez had sought to traumatise the artiste by employing bloggers to spread defamatory statements about her online.
Her lawyers also said Lanez had filed court papers claiming that his legal rights had been violated one day before a documentary on Megan Thee Stallion was set to premiere. Taken together, they say in court papers that the harassment has caused her emotional distress and harmed her reputation.
Attempts to reach a lawyer for Lanez were not immediately successful.
Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, was convicted in late 2022 of three felony counts after a jury found him guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in both of her feet following an argument two years earlier.
Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the case, which polarised the music world, filled gossip pages and spurred discussions about violence against black women.
In arguing for a restraining order, lawyers for Megan Thee Stallion pointed to one particular blogger who they said had published several false statements about her and about the integrity of the criminal trial.
Megan Thee Stallion brought a separate defamation lawsuit against that blogger which she amended earlier in December. In the court papers, her lawyers pointed to prison call logs that they said suggested the blogger was being paid.
The lawyers also cited statements Lanez had made on social media immediately after his conviction, assailing the fairness of the proceedings. And they accused him of spreading a rumour in October falsely suggesting that an appellate court had declared him innocent. NYTIMES
