Megan Thee Stallion Wins Five-Year Restraining Order Against Tory Lanez
Megan Thee Stallion won a five-year civil harassment restraining order against Tory Lanez on Thursday after giving emotional testimony at a court hearing in downtown Los Angeles.
Appearing by video, the Grammy-winning rapper said she first filed for the restraining order last month because she continues to suffer from high anxiety stemming from the night in July 2020 when Lanez fired five shots from a semiautomatic weapon and wounded her in both feet.
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“I haven’t been at peace since I been shot, and I’m just trying to be un-harassed, not only by the person who shot me, but by the people he’s been paying to continue to harass me,” Megan testified under oath. “I probably won’t ever have my own peace about the situation, but I just really want the harassment from the person who shot me to stop.”
Megan spoke multiple times during the 40-minute hearing and broke down in tears as she described her worst fears. “I’m scared that even when he gets out of jail, he’s going to still be upset with me, and I don’t know if he’s going to continue being violent toward me. Because even from behind bars, he keeps showing me that he can get to me. Like, he won’t give me a day of peace,” she said. “I feel like when he gets out of jail, it’s going to be worse. … I feel like maybe he’ll shoot me again, and maybe this time, I won’t make it.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Bloom cited “several uncontroverted facts” as he granted Megan’s petition, including “conduct that culminated in [Lanez] shooting approximately five rounds at petitioner that resulted in injuries to her.” The judge said that under his order, Lanez, born Daystar Peterson, must stay at least 100 yards away from Megan, born Megan Pete, and refrain from harassing, intimidating or threatening her in any way until at least January 9, 2030.
Peterson’s lawyer Michael Hayden fought the move, calling it an unfair prior restraint on his client’s free speech. Hayden further argued that with Peterson now serving a 10-year prison sentence in California, the order was unwarranted. The judge disagreed.
“We have a shooting that took place, and with a violent act like that, there’s a ripple effect that continues on,” Judge Bloom said. “Ms. Pete’s testimony is that the ripple effect has been significant.”
In her testimony, Megan told the court that the shooting still causes her great emotional distress. “I tried therapy, but I recently haven’t been because I’ve been feeling kind of hopeless about this whole thing. No matter how many people tell me I have to get past it, it just seems like I have to relive it every day,” she said. “I barely leave my house. I leave my house for work. But I’m not good in social situations anymore because I think everybody hates me at this point because of everything that he’s done and said about me after the shooting. I’m just always nervous. I never had anxiety before this. I’m just a nervous wreck all the time.”
In her restraining order petition, Megan alleged that Peterson and his supporters continued to spread misinformation about the shooting and trial. She cited a recent court filing in which Peterson’s lawyers alleged that law enforcement failed to preserve the gun as evidence in the case, depriving him the chance to test it for DNA. California authorities have since confirmed that the firearm remains in police custody. Before the trial, Peterson’s lawyers declined to test it independently, choosing instead to focus on the “inconclusive” DNA test results obtained by police.
A jury convicted Peterson in December 2022, after Megan gave three hours of harrowing testimony in which she recalled Peterson yelling “dance bitch” as he fired at her feet. The chief resident of orthopedic surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center also walked jurors through X-rays showing the wounds to Megan’s feet. He said doctors identified four metallic bullet fragments embedded in her feet and removed what they could during emergency surgery. A man who witnessed the shooting testified that he saw a “very agitated” man “firing everywhere.”
In her testimony Thursday, Megan said she believed Peterson is “orchestrating” a campaign in which others harass her online. “Even from behind bars, he won’t leave me alone. I thought once he went to jail and maybe had a moment to repent or realize what he did was wrong, [it might change], but even from behind bars he’s still showing he’s an angry person,” she testified.
Hayden argued to the court that the restraining order petition was “an attempt to chill free speech.” He said there was “no continuous violence or threat of violence stemming from four and a half years ago in Los Angeles County.” He called the petition “premature” considering it had “no evidence of current or future substantial harm.” He said it wasn’t relevant to “look back on an incident from four and a half years ago with all the transcripts and stirring up all the junk that happened at that particular time.”
Megan’s lawyer, Mari Henderson, seized on Hayden’s choice of words. “When Mr. Hayden refers to all the ‘junk’ that occurred, that’s not junk, that’s Ms. Pete’s life, and what happened to her from the time of the shooting to today has been incredibly traumatizing,” Henderson said. “She’s endured more than just a smear campaign. She’s endured people calling her integrity into question and whether she was even a victim at all.”
Megan also took offense to Hayden’s argument. “To refer to everything that has happened to me as junk? That is what they’ve been doing. They’ve made people question, was I shot at all. They said I wasn’t shot. And then, when they said I was shot, they tried to say it wasn’t him. So they’ve tried to create this chaotic environment for me, and have everybody attacking me,” she testified under oath. “I’m not trying to take anyone’s free speech away. It’s the man who orchestrated this. He’s the person who shot me, and he’s continuing to orchestrate people to continue to attack me.”
Megan told the court that when she performs at shows, people sometimes yell “Free Tory” and harass her. She conceded that as a public figure, she must endure negative comments, but said she deserves protection when it comes to Peterson. “The problem I have is that the man who shot me is orchestrating other people and paying people and him and his family are helping people put out lies and slander and smear campaigns against me,” she testified. “I’m scared to do anything because he has orchestrated people to attack me, whether online or it could possibly even be in person.”
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