LOS ANGELES – Megan Thee Stallion is a three-time Grammy winner and hip-hop superstar, but her success wasn’t enough to shield the 27-year-old artist from the power of widespread misinformation and social media bickering that followed her shooting they were judged in 2020.
Houston-born rapper, real name Megan Pete, was shot multiple times in both feet after leaving a party in Hollywood Hills in 2020 with rapper Tory Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, and former assistant Kelsey Harris. Megan required surgery to remove the bullet fragments from her feet. On Friday, A jury found Lanez guilty of all three crimes he was charged with, which could result in up to 22 years in prison.
Three months after the shoot, Megan accused Lanez to wield the gun. The ensuing onslaught of criticism peaked during Lanez’s assault trial this month. Experts say it stems from misogyny, a specific type of misogyny experienced by black women.
Tia Tyree, a Howard University professor, described misogynoir as “contempt, dislike, or mistreatment of black women.”
Tyree, whose research focuses on the representation of black women in mass media, social media, and hip-hop culture, emphasized that misogyny has been part of the experience of black women in the United States for centuries, dating back to the dawn of American slavery.
“A lot of people see the term and are intrigued by it. They’re like, ‘Wow, what’s happening to black women?'” she said. “And that’s the most disappointing part of the misogyny narrative. There is nothing new about the mistreatment and disrespect of black women in the United States.”
Megan said she didn’t tell Los Angeles Police Department the response to the scene until three months after the shooting because she feared for her safety.
The shooting happened on July 12, 2020, less than two months after George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Fear of police violence may have played a role in her reluctance to share details with officers, Tyree said, adding that black women are expected to protect black men in society.
A cycle of silence prevents many black women from sharing their experiences, said Melvin L. Williams, a Pace University professor who studies hip-hop feminism, black male rappers and hip-hop culture.
“They face industry blackballing and fewer career opportunities if they speak up,” Williams said.
Megan claimed Lanez and his team spread misinformation about the shooting. Social media users have claimed Lanez never shot her and posted about her sexual history to discredit her.
Lanez, who has now been convicted of all three crimes and is awaiting sentencing, has pleaded innocent. In Closing speech this week, His attorneys argued that Harris was the shooter and that Megan was trying to create a more sympathetic narrative by blaming Lanez.
Harris’ attorney declined to comment on her involvement.
“Tory came out and told so many different lies – about how I wasn’t shot, that he wasn’t the shooter and that it was a sex scandal,” Megan testified last week.
When the jury’s deliberations began Thursday, there was much misinformation that Lanez had already been acquitted. Social media platforms have also come under scrutiny for Megan’s story — particularly her credibility.
Rappers Drake and 21 Savage mentioned her in their collaborative album with specific lyrics attempting to discredit her allegations. 50 Cent also posted memes mocking her interview with Gayle King.
Megan “infiltrates a very hyper-masculine space,” Tyree said, referring to hip-hop culture. “And like any other hyper-masculine space, there are bro codes, and she’s at the point where she’s nudged, and you see the answer to that.”
She is part of a chorus of black women – including #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and US Rep. Maxine Waters – who have spoken out about violence against women. Burke and Waters signed an open letter supporting Megan.
Social media attacks against Megan have drawn comparisons to television coverage in the 1990s of Anita Hill testifying before Congress and more recently to online racial hatred against Meghan Markle. Another recent example was Johnny Depps Defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, which ended in a draw many social media posts that spread misinformation and cast doubt on Heard’s credibility.
Northwestern University law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer, the author of “Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers,” noted that these lawsuits follow five years after the #MeToo movement sparked a global social reckoning followed by a backlash, took place.
“We can consider this spate of stories to be really significant and meaningful, and it is, but until we figure out how to fairly assess credibility and how to hold perpetrators accountable in a meaningful way, then I think that it is fair There is still a lot to be done,” said Türkheimer.
Race is a key difference in how accusers are treated, said Izzi Grasso, a graduate student at the University of Washington who has been studying misinformation surrounding the Depp Heard trial.
Grasso’s research concluded that people with marginalized identities are disproportionately the target of harassment, online disinformation campaigns and discriminatory content moderation. The online world mirrors the “systems of power and domination that we see in the real world,” Grasso said.
Moya Bailey, a Northwestern University professor who coined the term misogynoir, found that social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter perpetuate harmful stereotypes about black women because they’re profitable.
Algorithms normalize the dehumanization and objectification of black women for the pleasure or ambivalence of other people, said Professor Raven Maragh-Lloyd of Washington University in St. Louis.
Lanez has claimed Harris and Megan had a fight over him. People are more likely to see content about Megan’s sex history as “sort of justification” for not believing her — or blaming her for being shot, Maragh-Lloyd said.
She said it depends on what sells — and misogynoir provides the fuel: “To perpetuate misinformation about black women’s bodies or black women’s desires, it’s going to garner clicks and eyeballs.”
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Haile reported from New York.
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