Tory Lanez was charged with felony assault in connection to the Megan Thee Stallion shooting last week, but Megan has been relatively mum on the topic — until now. On Tuesday (October 13), the New York Times published an op-ed written by the 300 Entertainment artist titled “Megan Thee Stallion: Why I Speak Up for Black Women.”
The piece reiterates her “protect Black women” message, which she preached during her Saturday Night Live performance on October 3, and attempts to silence some of the internet chatter. For one, Megan says she wasn’t romantically tied to the Canadian rapper, something he alluded to on his 17-track DAYSTAR project he released last month.
“I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man,” she writes in part. “After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him. We were not in a relationship. Truthfully, I was shocked that I ended up in that place.”
She then explained why she waited awhile to identify Lanez as the triggerman.
“My initial silence about what happened was out of fear for myself and my friends,” she continues. “Even as a victim, I have been met with skepticism and judgment. The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted.”
From there, Megan touched on the wider issue at hand — misogyny. Historically, men have viewed women as mere sexual objects or some sort of conquest, which she says played a role in her response to the shooting.
“After a lot of self-reflection on that incident, I’ve realized that violence against women is not always connected to being in a relationship,” she adds. “Instead, it happens because too many men treat all women as objects, which helps them to justify inflicting abuse against us when we choose to exercise our own free will.
“From the moment we begin to navigate the intricacies of adolescence, we feel the weight of this threat, and the weight of contradictory expectations and misguided preconceptions. Many of us begin to put too much value to how we are seen by others. That’s if we are seen at all.”
As. Megan continues, she talks about taking pride in her appearance — and not for the male gaze — but because a positive body image is “central” to who she is as a “woman and a performer.” She also notes how she’s been “vilified and disrespected” for choosing to capitalized on her sexuality, “to reclaim” her own power.
Finally, she scoffs at the notion there’s only room for one woman rapper at the top, writing, “In every industry, women are pitted against one another, but especially in hip-hop, where it seems as if the male-dominated ecosystem can handle only one female rapper at a time. Countless times, people have tried to pit me against Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two incredible entertainers and strong women. I’m not “the new” anyone; we are all unique in our own ways.”
Tory Lanez Promises Truth In Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Case: 'A Charge Is Not A Conviction'
As Megan wraps up the piece, she names several influential Black women who she says she wished she learned about in school, including NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson, Alice H. Parker and Marie Van Brittan Brown.
She ends with, “…. my hope is that Kamala Harris’s candidacy for vice president will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer “making history” for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago.
But that will take time, and Black women are not naïve. We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”
Read the full piece here.
Ain’t Tory court date today? He been long over do… Clown boy. But why Meg saying she wasn’t involved with Tory. She must be ashamed of the whole situation. She just needs to say etf happed and quit all this piece by piece storyline. Why did the Short Guy Tory Lanez shoot you??? Is it going to take next year on the anniversary of the shooting to come out with the reason. Megan quit lieing on ya taco, Tory put his meat in it.
U are nothing more than an object bc thats how you present yourself. Thots want to be respected like a wholesome woman lmao youll be upset for the nxt 100 years bc simps are slowly dying off
Female rappers love to speak out against misogyny yet 95% of their content is how they will only perform sex acts if the guy is buying them everything they want and how they’ll discard the man once he’s broke.
“Too many men treat women as objects” but you on stage twerking your ass to WAP? This is what happens when theres no accountability for women, they feel like they can just say any contradictory dumb shit that comes to mind.
Sorry, we don’t take kindly to women of the night plotting against artists who actually make good music – fall back Megan
This shiiit is weeeeird, im sorry but I dont buy it… originally I thought tory did it, im not a super big fan of his but this shit is not adding up at all. I understand the fear thing for people but for her? Tory should be more afraid for his life if what really transpired happened! Megs got way more clout then him and is tied to some fucking heavy hitters, tory would be much easier to get at than meg…
The delusion is so alarming…I wish I thought she knew she was full of shit. By the way it’s no secret that Kamala got to where she is by being an “object”. I understand you wouldn’t know that since the hood only discovered politics 12 years ago
How can she spin this off as a “protecting black women” thing ? Why throw in the racism ? Why not just say “protecting all women” ? Youre disregarding half of the women who supported the WAP single. (Even Kylie lol) Not to mention the alleged shooter is also black, so stop trying to make this a race issue. You cant.
I’ve watched the WAP video on mute a hundred times now. I enjoy it, but don’t say you’re doing that to “reclaim power”. It’s the same argument used for saying the n-word every sentence. You’re free to say and dress however you like, just don’t be expected to be taken seriously in situations like this. Also..what does this have to with Tory shooting her?
Megan and her friends should be careful not to generalise. She needs to be more pointed and directed in her speech. No 2 people walking the face of the earth neither male nor female are alike and she knows this so she needs to be more responsible. If everybody were to take their cue from her statement then all men who’ve had their own bad experiences at the hands of women would be licensed to cast all women in the same light. The question will that bring about the intended change or help her message reach a greater audience. People may read it, yes, but the question is will they pay attention to it if they are being ostracized!?
Speak your peace my beautiful queen sister Loved you on SNL and
The #protectblackwomen movement will continue. Be safe