Tory Lanez refuses to apologise after 10-year sentence for Megan Thee Stallion shooting
Rapper insisted he was innocent despite previously accepting responsibility
Canadian rapper Tory Lanez has claimed he was wrongfully convicted for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion during a row in July 2020.
“I refuse to apologise for something I did not do,” Lanez wrote on Instagram, after he was jailed for 10 years this week for the attack that “drew widespread attention and scrutiny”, said The Washington Post.
However, noted the BBC, his lawyer Jose Baez had earlier told reporters that Lanez was “incredibly remorseful and ashamed and embarrassed”, adding that “he has been nothing but apologetic”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In his own statement to the Los Angeles court, Lanez, 30, said he accepted responsibility for what he “did wrong that night”. But in his subsequent Instagram post he said he only meant to take responsibility for “all the verbal and intimate moments I shared”.
Megan Thee Stallion, a Grammy winner, had to have surgery after being shot in both feet in the incident. She said it happened after the pair left a party at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood home and got into an argument over Lanez’s rapping talent. Since she came forward with the allegations, she said, she’s faced abuse and “not experienced a single day of peace”.
Iggy Azalea, a rapper, songwriter and model, wrote a letter to the trial judge asking for a punishment for Lanez that was “transformative, not life-destroying”, said the Daily Mail.
She wrote that Lanez is “far from your average entitled rap star” and said she had “witnessed him defuse so many sticky situations with kindness and humour”.
Lanez had told her “he’s glad God put him in jail”, she said, as it is “an opportunity to humble himself and soften his heart”. It was, she added, “ironic to hear one of the kindest people I know strive to become even kinder”.
However, prosecutors said they sought a longer sentence because they felt Lanez has not shown any remorse. In a 12-page sentencing memo to the court, they said he had spent nearly three years “waging a campaign of misinformation to re-traumatise the victim”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
This is what you should know about State Department travel advisories and warnings
In Depth Stay safe on your international adventures
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Changes are coming for 401(k)s and IRAs in 2025. Here's what to know.
The Explainer News about part-time workers, auto-enrollment and penalties for inherited IRAs
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Can AI tools be used to Hollywood's advantage?
Talking Points It makes some aspects of the industry faster and cheaper. It will also put many people in the entertainment world out of work
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Major streamers often wrestle over documentary subjects
Under the Radar Studios are seeming to favor true crime-style features over political films
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
The row over AI in TV writers' rooms
In The Spotlight New ITV role has increased fears that technology could be 'kaboom for the entertainment industry'
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
When actors become brands, fans become disillusioned
In the Spotlight What happens when the side hustles outshine the performances?
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
5 charged in connection to Matthew Perry's death
Speed Read The suspects involved in the actor's fatal ketamine overdose took advantage of him, prosecutors say
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How Black female science fiction and fantasy writers are upending the narrative
The Week Recommends There may be only a few making waves. But their effect has been seismic.
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
TV to watch in August, from 'Kaos' to 'The Umbrella Academy'
The Week Recommends A docuseries about Black Hollywood, a new show from the creator of 'Scrubs' and a contemporary spin on Greek mythology
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
The spiraling chaos at Paramount
The Explainer The company tried to find a lifeline with Skydance, but the deal didn't pan out
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published