Megan Thee Stallion says even a jail cell can’t stop her convicted shooter Tory Lanez from tormenting her.
The “Savage” rapper, born Megan Pete, on Tuesday filed a request for a new restraining order against Lanez, who is serving 10 years in state prison after his conviction on gun charges stemming from a 2020 incident in which he shot her in the feet.
It’s a “trauma” that Pete has been forced to relive, she stated in a Tuesday filing reviewed by The Times, as her convicted shooter — whose legal name is Daystar Peterson — continues his “campaign of harassment” despite being behind bars.
Prior to his conviction, Peterson several times violated the court’s pretrial “protective and gag orders” intended to ensure Pete’s safety and well-being, according to the filing. One such violation in 2021 racked up his bail by $60,000.
Pete’s filing alleged that he now harasses her with the help of “third party online ‘bloggers,’ who [sic] Mr. Peterson employs to spread defamatory statements about Ms. Pete.” That undermines the criminal trial that put Peterson away in the first place and has caused Pete “severe emotional distress,” the filing said.
A legal representative for Pete did not reply immediately Wednesday to The Times’ request for additional comment.
Pete’s petition cited Peterson’s prison call logs and social media posts from his peers to demonstrate an organized takedown effort on his behalf.
Still, the Grammys’ best new artist for 2021 has been unable to obtain “any formal protection against Mr. Peterson’s attacks,” Pete’s petition said, because the bar for a post-conviction criminal protective order is incredibly high.
“It is counterintuitive and wholly illogical that Ms. Pete had protection by way of protective orders and gag orders issued against Mr. Peterson, while he was deemed innocent, i.e., pre-conviction, but that such protections are no longer available to Ms. Pete, due to mere technicality in the law, now that he has been convicted and proven guilty,” the filing said.
The civil harassment restraining order was dubbed Pete’s “only recourse” to take care of herself as she heals her emotional wounds.
Last year, the rapper told Elle that when the 2020 incident with Peterson became the talk of the internet, and even her music peers expressed doubt about her story, she “started falling into a depression.”
“I didn’t feel like making music. I was in such a low place that I didn’t even know what I wanted to rap about. I wondered if people even cared anymore. There would be times that I’d literally be backstage or in my hotel, crying my eyes out, and then I’d have to pull Megan Pete together and be Megan Thee Stallion,” she told the outlet.
Similarly, in her recent Prime Video documentary “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words,” she spoke about experiencing suicidal ideation and seeking mental health support just before the criminal trial that ended with Peterson’s multiple convictions and imprisonment, the Cut reported.
A hearing on the restraining order request is scheduled for Jan. 9.