Megan Thee Stallion Reclaims Her Story (As She Should!) With New Documentary & Lawsuit

Megan Thee Stallion is taking a stand, refusing to wait for anyone to put respect on her name. The Grammy-winning rapper, 29, is suing blogger Milagro Gramz, whose online commentary was a fixture during rapper Tory Lanez’s highly publicized 2023 criminal trial and conviction for shooting Megan in the foot in 2020. 

The lawsuit, filed October 30 in the Southern District of Florida, came the day before the anticipated release of Megan’s gripping new documentary. Megan: In Her Words, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, chronicles the hefty price of her fame: anxiety, alienation, and allegations. This includes the fallout of her former friendship with Lanez, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence, and the vicious online backlash she received her for coming forward with her story. 

“I’ve endured countless attacks on my character based on false narratives from social media bloggers misrepresenting themselves as journalists,” Megan said in a statement about the filing, as reported by NBC News. “It’s unacceptable behavior and these individuals need to understand there will be repercussions for recklessly posting lies and defamatory falsehoods.”

Megan’s choice to stand up to her abusers both online and in the courtroom is a gallant leap forward amid growing calls for expanded legal protections against cyberstalking. This is crucial for communities as vulnerable as Black women because our bodies and autonomy are consumed by mainstream culture as much as they are vilified. As Megan reveals in the new documentary, she confronted her agonizing truth not just for herself but for other women who have or will endure similarly traumatizing experiences.

In the lawsuit, filed under her legal name, Megan Pete, against Gramz, legally known as Milagro Elizabeth Cooper, Megan’s attorneys allege that Gramz is a “mouthpiece” and “paid surrogate” for Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson. The filing claims Gramz used her online platforms before and after the trial to “denigrate, belittle, insult, and spread false statements about Ms. Pete” with the intent to “bully, harass and punish Ms. Pete for Mr. Peterson’s conviction and to tarnish her reputation, causing emotional distress.” Megan’s attorneys accused Gramz of cyberstalking, promoting and sharing deep fake pornography of Pete, and promoting theories questioning if the “Mamushi” rapper was actually shot.

The National Institute of Justice defines cyberstalking as “using communications technology in threatening ways to stalk, harass, or share embarrassing information about victims.” According to the agency’s 2023 report, federal cyberstalking cases have grown steadily since 2014, with a reported 412 total cases filed between 2010 and 2020. However, the agency states that the U.S. legal system is “underprepared to handle cyberstalking cases,” so “law enforcement is seldom able to prioritize or allot substantial resources to cyberstalking.” 

Those statistics, of course, speak only of the cases brought forward to respective authorities. How many others were left unreported or weren't taken seriously? It’s also important to note that Megan’s filing is a civil lawsuit, where she is seeking financial damages if Gramz is found liable. However, Megan’s case does stand to influence how cyberstalking is perceived publicly with regard to intentional emotional harm. 

Furthermore, if Megan, a cultural icon on track to be one of the greatest rappers to hold a mic, can be victimized without consequences, why would private citizens experiencing the same come forward? As a civilized society, how can we gain more empathy if nothing changes? In a world where women's rights and the alleged unalienable rights of Black people are constantly under siege, it's a chilling effect we simply can't afford. 

Megan joins the growing cohort of celebrities to push back against online abuse, including Cardi B, who successfully sued YouTuber Tasha K for defamation in 2019 after the content creator claimed the “Bongos” rapper had abused drugs, had herpes, and was a prostitute. Yet, I still think about the uncounted others, public figures or not, whose stories will never be told out of fear, oftentimes, for their lives. As Megan told cameras for the documentary, she was traumatized by internet abusers who wished her dead following her legal action against Lanez.

Online conspiracies attacking Megan’s integrity existed long before Lanez, 32, was found guilty of felony assault by a Los Angeles jury. Amid news of the lawsuit, critics have once again taken aim over her April 2022 interview with journalist Gayle King, where Megan falsely claimed to have not had sex with Lanez at any point in their relationship before the shooting. In the documentary, however, Megan explained that while she and Lanez slept together casually after drinking alcohol, that doesn’t absolve him from having shot her.

Let’s say that again for the people in the back: Just because you have sex with someone, it doesn’t mean they can't assault you. In fact, intimate partner violence is so common, 1 in 3 women will experience it in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization.

Let’s also recall that a number of hip-hop heavyweights, perhaps unsurprisingly, men, that included Drake, Meek Mill, and 50 Cent, added to the chorus defending Lanez. Megan’s detractors called her a liar, alluding that she was another woman tripping over some good d*ck with a man who had kicked her to the curb. 

But Lanez didn't kick her to the curb. He left her bleeding on a cold Los Angeles street if you believe the jury who convicted him and if you believe Megan. As a Black woman who is still coming to terms with my own trauma, I wholeheartedly do. It's also hard not to believe that in shooting Megan, specifically in her foot, the tools that bring life to her bodacious bars and earned her the nickname "Megan with the Knees," Lanez wanted to ensure her star stopped rising that night. 

It’s hard not to believe the wellspring of online hate is born of the truth that Megan is Black, sexually self-possessed, and successful, a triple threat against the white patriarchal status quo and internalized misogynoir within our own community. And with critics now condemning Megan’s legal action against Gramz, it seems this narrative — that Megan somehow deserves this pain — is like the lurching big bad from your favorite horror slasher: it refuses to die.

This is why Megan: In Her Words, comes right on time. In just under two hours, it’s a reminder of her humanity. Weirdly, it’s easy for some folks to forget when it’s flattened down on a screen, curated in a feed meant to accentuate the shiniest, most “likeable” parts. However, feeding that beast, or whatever sacrifice the culture demands, does nothing but empower the lie that silence is protection. I beg to ask when has protecting abusers in the face of clear and present harm against victims ever benefited us as a community? Has it ever healed long-fractured bonds? No.

After Megan’s filing, Gramz issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter), which read: “I’ve been informed that I’m being sued by Alex Spiro on behalf of his client Megan Thee Stallion. Of course we’ll chat about it. They threw in the tape too.” She is being represented by Unite The People Inc., a nonprofit which, in an October 31 statement, called the lawsuit “an attempt to silence someone from their First Amendment right of free speech.” 

This saga appears far from over, but there is a sliver of light in the tunnel. Megan, who revealed in the new documentary that she went on a month-long mental health retreat to process her grief, remains a testament to the power of protecting your peace at any cost. The “Cobra” rapper closes the documentary by stating that her mother, who tragically died of a brain tumor in 2019, would be proud if she could see her today.

Megan, I am, too.