Today, Explained - Megan Thee Stallion

Episode Date: December 15, 2022

Megan Thee Stallion is everywhere — including in court, testifying against the rapper Tory Lanez, who is charged with shooting her. Vox’s Fabiola Cineas explains.  This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh and Siona Peterous, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So I was listening to Drake's new album. He's actually rapping again, which is nice. But then he says something that totally takes me out of the experience. This B-word lie about getting shots, but she's still a stallion. Clearly a reference to a traumatic night in 2020 when Megan Thee Stallion says she was shot by another Canadian rapper named Tory Lanez. And I'm like, why is Drake calling Megan a liar? Why would he put that in a song? It feels cheap.

It feels mean. there are Legion hip-hop fans out there who think Megan Thee Stallion is lying, who aren't interested in waiting to hear the results of the trial of Tory Lanez that started this week. Why that is, coming your back all season long. From tip-off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the

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about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Today Explained. I'm a savage. Classy, bougie, ratchet. This is Today Explained. Megan Thee Stallion is one of the biggest musicians in the world right now. New album, hosting SNL, Forbes 30 Under 30. She's on the cover, a world tour coming up in the new year. She's everywhere, including this week, testifying in court about getting shot

by another rapper. We asked Fabiola Sineas at Vox how this person who's literally sitting on top of the world is also really going through it right now. Tory Lanez right now has been charged by the district attorneys in Los Angeles on three felony charges. The DA's office says Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, shot Megan's feet during an argument in the Hollywood Hills July 12th. Their assault with a firearm, causing great bodily injury, concealing a loaded unregistered firearm in a vehicle. And they added on a third charge, which is a count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence. And so in July of 2020, Tory Lanez allegedly shot Megan Thee Stallion. And so right now he's on trial for that. And he faces up to 22 years and eight months in prison. He also runs the risk of being deported since he is a citizen of Canada.

And so we're watching this case because it's really bringing a lot of attention to how Black women in the music industry are vilified and denigrated. And this is the case for Black women outside of the industry too. And so I think the outcome of this case and how the audience reacts to it will say a lot about where we are when it comes to violence against women and violence against Black women. We're also in a place where we're experiencing a lot of Me Too backlash. Me Too is not being as well received as it was, you know, four years ago. And so the outcome of this case will say a lot about where we are when it comes to the Me Too movement as well. Tell us how this whole ordeal began. So it goes back to the early hours of July 12, 2020. We're going live? We're going live!

Apparently, Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez, Megan's friend Kelsey, and Tory's bodyguard left a party at Kylie Jenner's house and they drove away for some time. They were all headed home apparently. But what happened was when they were driving, an argument ensued. And so Megan, as she tells the story, says she wanted to get out of the car. I'll get out the car. I'm done arguing. I don't want to argue no more. I'm walking away. The next thing we know, the police show up. When the police came, because the neighbors called the police, this did not happen at Kylie House, the police is really aggressive. They arrest Tory Lanez for carrying a concealed firearm. They take Megan to the hospital because she's bleeding from her feet.

And what she tells the police that night is that Megan had received a cut on her foot from a piece of broken glass. And basically that's circulating in the media. That's what's written in initial reports of the incident is that Megan was bleeding from both of her feet. So initially, this is sort of a strange story, right? This this massive pop star is in a car with this like basically Bush League Canadian rapper, and they're leaving Kylie Jenner's house and something goes wrong. There's an argument. The massive pop star's feet are bleeding and all we know is there was some broken glass involved. Like I remember those first few days people were just like, what is this story? As the public receiving the story, we're just getting bits and pieces. We're just hearing that Megan and Tory Lanez were pulled over. We're hearing that Megan was taken to the hospital because she

was bleeding from her feet. I believe people were concerned because they were like, oh my God, Megan is hurt. The police were there. And so people were mostly drawn to the fact that this huge artist, this pop artist was stopped by the police in a year that is already marked by so much police violence. And so that is what people were drawn to. Like they were stopped by the cops. And that was, that was scary for a lot of people to hear. The police come, I'm scared. All this going on with the police. The police was literally killing black people for no reason. But it wasn't until three days later that Megan Thee Stallion said that she had been shot that night. She said on Sunday morning, I suffered gunshot wounds as a result of a crime that was committed against me and done with the intention to physically harm me. She took to Instagram to reveal this.

The post is deleted, but she made it clear that it was the result of a crime. So it wasn't something that was by accident, but someone had intentionally tried to harm her. You shot me. She claims that she wasn't arrested and that the police officers drove her to the hospital where she actually underwent surgery to remove bullets and bullet fragments from her feet. Does she say why there was initially a different story? Did she tell that story that there was broken glass involved?

So Megan never told the story of glass being in her feet to the public. That's what she told the police when they arrived on scene. Why the fuck would I tell the laws? Somebody got a gun in his car and this nigga shot me. So I can get shot. You can get shot. She can get shot. He can get shot. I ain't tell the police what happened immediately right then because I didn't want to die. So Megan the Stallion comes out a few days after this incident and says, I didn't step on broken glass. I was shot. Does she say who shot her? When Megan first came out to say that she suffered gunshot wounds, she does not say who shot her, but she made it clear that the person who shot her did it

with the intention of physically harming her. And so that led to a lot of speculation about who shot her and why she would even lie about being shot. But when you think about the atmosphere of 2020, when you think about the police killings that people were protesting, whether that was George Floyd or Breonna Taylor, it was a very tense summer. And it was a really difficult position to be in as a Black person because you're on high alert. And if you're in a car with Black people and the police stop you, you're going to try to do your best to not give the police officers a reason to act aggressively toward you. I didn't tell the police nothing because I didn't want us to get in no more trouble than what we was already about to get in. Hmm. So what does Megan eventually reveal? She eventually reveals that it was Tory Lanez who shot her.

And it's like everything happens so fast. They had an argument as they were driving away from the party. It's like it's getting worse. The arguing in the car. The arguing in the car is getting worse, and I don't want to be in this car no more, because I see it's getting crazy. She wanted to leave the car,

and now she is walking away from the car. Tory Lanez bends over the window. And all I hear is this man screaming. He said, dance. And he starts shooting, and I'm just like, oh, my God. And what is he saying, Tory Lanez, saying after he shot? He's apologizing. He's like, I'm so sorry.

Please don't tell nobody. I'll give y'all a million dollars if y'all don't say nothing. How does the world respond to this allegation from Megan Thee Stallion that some Canadian rapper most people have never heard of has shot one of the most popular musicians in the world? People immediately start criticizing Megan Thee Stallion. It's to the point where people actually begin making jokes about the shooting. People don't take it seriously. I predict that they had some sort of Bobby and Whitney love that, you know, drove them down this snapped-esque type of road. And I'm here for it.

I like that. I want you to like me so much you shoot me in the foot too. And this continues to escalate into music. Exactly. So we have both artists putting out music that's packed with lyrics to kind of talk about what happened. And so specifically, Lanes releases Daystar. And he has a couple of songs on there that talks about the relationship that he allegedly

had with Megan Thee Stallion and talk about how he was innocent and also just cast doubt on the story that he shot her. in danger and some pain. And when you hop back in the car with me, you knew everything was safe. Just please don't let these make you change. We both know what happened that night and what I did, but it ain't what they saying. But when the feelings change, the pain stops.

She deals with it in the same way that she deals with a lot of the other hate and vitriol that she's been facing in the past two years. She directly responds. I know I'm very popular, but y'all gotta stop attaching weak, blank conspiracy theories in bars to my name. Megan went I'm very popular, but y'all got to stop attaching weak blank conspiracy theories

in bars to my name. Megan went on to tell musicians, since when the F is it cool to joke about women getting shot? So she directly says to Drake, you are using me for attention, you're using me for clout. And so again, people have throughout these two years criticized the way that Megan has come forward to talk directly to the naysayers and talk directly to the critics and just say it's very wrong that you're making fun of someone who has faced such a traumatic experience. What do you say to people that still don't believe that you were actually shot? I don't think any of this is for them. Like, it's for me. Like, I know this happened to me. I'm a victim. Like, I'm the victim.

Like, I'm not defending myself against anything. Like, something happened to me. And she's responding in her music as well. Imagine lying blind by shooting the real, real. Just a safe space for reppin' reppin' to chill with. And not just directly to the violence that she's faced, but she's also in her music talking about the mental health toll that this has taken on her. And so in an SNL performance this fall, she's on stage crying and holding back tears.

And a lot of people said that this was clearly a result of the immense stress and trauma that she's been dealing with since allegedly being shot by Tory Lanez in the summer of 2020. Fabio Licinius writes about race and policy at Vox. Why so many haters, and even some fans, are struggling to see Megan Thee Stallion as a victim here when Today Explained returns.

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Today Explained, Megan Thee Stallion is injured after an argument. She immediately says it was broken glass, but then quickly reveals she was shot, she says, by the rapper Tory Lanes, who was arrested for gun possession and is now charged with felony assault with a firearm, among other things. But a lot of people don't buy this story. They refuse to believe Megan. And Professor Moya Bailey has a theory why. Misogynoir. I coined the term misogynoir in 2008 while working on my dissertation. And I was looking at these old medical school yearbooks from the 1910s and looking at the representation of Black women in these medical school yearbooks that I was also seeing

in popular culture of the time in terms of what was on television, what was in music. And it occurred to me that there's a way that Black women specifically are being targeted. So misogynoir is a way to describe the anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience and people read as Black women experience. Tell us more about some historical examples of misogynoir just to help us contextualize it. So a historic example of misogynoir as it relates to politics is the example of the welfare queen, which was used in the 80s and 90s to paint a picture of Black women as drains on the nation state, that Black women were having lots of babies and taking all of these government funds to support themselves, but also were abusing the system. In the welfare culture, the breakdown of the family, the most basic support themselves, but also were abusing the system.

In the welfare culture, the breakdown of the family, the most basic support system, has reached crisis proportions. In female and child poverty, child abandonment, horrible crimes, and deteriorating schools. And really that wasn't true. The largest recipients of state assistance are white people to this day. And another example that we can think of is Serena Williams, who was giving birth to her daughter Olympia and felt an experience that she had had before. She felt a blood clot forming and really had to advocate for herself,

for the doctors to actually listen to her, to pay attention to her. According to Vogue, quote, she walked out of the hospital room so her mother wouldn't worry and told the nearest nurse between gasps that she needed a CT scan with contrast and IV heparin, a blood thinner, right away. The nurse thought her pain medicine might be making her confused. This is something that happens to Black women a lot. There's actually a film called Aftershock that's specifically about the way that Black women are dying of maternal mortality at rates that far far out seed everyone else who is getting pregnant and having babies. And that is another example of how misogynoir actually has material consequence in people's lives. And of course, we need to look no further than hip hop itself, for examples of misogynoir and the story of Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez. What did you think

when you first saw that, you know, any way you cut it, this very painful experience for Megan Thee Stallion was being mocked and that she was receiving criticism online? Honestly, I can say that I wasn't that surprised when I saw it. Internalized misogynoir is real, and unfortunately, misogynoir is an equal opportunity employer. Because there's this idea that Black women are not telling the truth, or we don't take the violence and experiences of Black women seriously, there's a way that the community and multiple communities didn't believe Megan. And to this day, a lot of people didn't believe Megan. Why is this happening? Why don't people believe Megan Thee Stallion?

I think it's a larger question about people not understanding or believing Black women generally. Black women are not seen as believable victims. There's also this idea connected to misogynoir that Black women are strong and resilient. Now you may be wondering, what is a strong Black woman? It's the idea that Black women are emotionally resilient, naturally selfless, too proud to ask for help, and can succeed with no resources. So basically every character played by Viola Davis.

So the idea that she could actually be a victim is also not part of the narrative. So for Megan to actually talk about the real harm that she experienced is a bit different and not what people might expect. And that's why people are more inclined to believe the guy who was literally arrested that night for gun possession over the woman who went to the hospital to have shards of bullets removed from her feet. Absolutely. And what do you then make of huge rappers like Drake or 21 Savage getting in on this, especially Drake, who purports to be a feminist.

If you watch his Nice For What video, it's all about being an ally to women mocking her in their music. There's a real capitalistic imperative, and also I think there's that old adage, as problematic as it is, bros before hoes, I think there's an idea that men will stay together on this topic and won't actually look at the reality of the situation.

Do you think she'd be taking this much heat even if she came out from the jump with the story that she's now telling, that I was shot by Tory Lanez last night? Yes, I think she would be taking the same amount of heat. Unfortunately, there's so many stories of Black women trying to express and tell their stories of trauma and survivorship. And so often they're met with disbelief. And there is this idea that Black women have to be a perfect victim and even when we are there isn't the same sort of attention or rallying or outcry when Black women are harmed as when

Black men are harmed and that's one of the things that I think about with misogynoir. There's such a specific way that Black women who are harmed are treated in media versus how Black men are treated. It also reminds me of what happened recently with Brittany Griner. And now that Brittany has been able to return through this prisoner swap, there's been criticism there that says that, well, she shouldn't have been one of the people treated, that her crimes are so minuscule compared to this arms dealer that we really should not think about Brittany in the same way. So I do think that there is a level of misogynoir that's happening there as well, that Britney is still not seen as somebody deserving of freedom for such a small infraction that otherwise wouldn't have garnered much attention if we weren't in this particular political climate.

We're talking about Britney Griner and Megan Thee Stallion, right? We're talking about one of the greatest athletes alive, one of the biggest musicians in the world. Where does this leave everyday Black women in the United States who might be victims of domestic violence or other crimes? One of the things that Megan's story and Brittany's story should illuminate for us is that celebrity and power for Black women don't protect them from harm. Misogynoir touches all Black women, and particularly for those who are not in positions of power or celebrity, the consequences are even more dire. How do you think we break this cycle of misogynoir? It sounds like it's decades,

if not centuries, if not as old as time. Misogynoir does have a long history, but just as there has been that long history, there have also been stories of Black women and their allies and accomplices pushing back on that reality. So I see real power in the media narratives that Black women create for themselves as examples and ways that misogynoir gets challenged. The things that people are producing create a different visual landscape for Black women and create more possibility. So television shows, even something simple like Abbott Elementary, are creating new opportunities, new ways for people to see Black women and create new possibilities and stories for what our worlds can look like. Look, I know

this school is rough, but I became a teacher to make sure students come out alive. And after learning a lot in my first year, finally feeling half of things. Did you see Trevor Noah's last episode of The Daily Show? I did. I did. This is random for some, but special shout out to black women. Of all the things he could have said with that platform that, you know, he probably knew would get viewed millions of times, he chose to shout out black women. People always be shocked. They'll be like, why do black women turn out the way they do in America? Why do they vote the way that, yeah, because they know what happens if things do not go the way it should. They cannot afford to f*** around and find out. And I'll tell you now, do yourself a favor.

You truly want to know what to do or how to do it, or maybe the best way or the most equitable way, talk to Black women. Black women really hold it down for community and massage and water is one of the ways that we are not repaid for that service. So I'm really inspired and excited by more people taking up the mantle to transform misogynoir and create a new reality for Black women through the media they create. We're in a moment where we can shift some of these representations, and I've been really moved by what people are doing for themselves. Professor Moya Bailey, she's at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

She's got a book about misogynoir called Misogynoir Transformed, Black Women's Digital Resistance. Our show today was produced by Hadi Mawagdi and Siona Petros. It was edited by Matthew Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, and engineered by Afim Shapiro. I'm Sean Ramos for them. This is Today Explained. you