the law

Megan Thee Stallion’s Former Friend Testifies in Tory Lanez Trial

Photo: Mona Shafer Edwards/BACKGRID

One day after Megan Thee Stallion finally got her day in court on December 13, Kelsey Harris took the stand in Tory Lanez’s trial and backtracked on key details in her testimony. In the criminal trial, which began December 5, Lanez is charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and possession of a loaded and unregistered firearm in his vehicle. He faces one felony count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence in relation to the July 12, 2020, incident. Meg told a Los Angeles jury that Lanez shot her feet following a party more than two years ago. “I just don’t feel good … I can’t believe I have to come in here and do this,” Meg said shortly after taking the stand at Lanez’s criminal trial, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Approximately 24 Meg supporters congregated outside the downtown L.A. courthouse in “solidarity” with the “Savage” star, Rolling Stone’s Nancy Dillon reported.

While on the stand, Meg detailed the events that had unfolded that evening. She testified that she, Lanez, his bodyguard, and a friend, Kelsey Harris, were driving away from Kylie Jenner’s pool party and that Lanez was upset that Meg had wanted to leave. Meg alleged that he turned around in the SUV and demanded that she “stop lying” about their relationship, the Times quoted her as saying. Meg said she and Lanez were friends and had become closer after bonding over the deaths of their mothers. Sometimes their relationship was sexual — a detail that had been revealed in the vehicle in front of Harris, she said. Harris allegedly had a “crush” on Meg, and this revelation fanned the flames of the argument. Lanez called both Meg and Harris “bitches and hoes,” and the discussion turned into an argument about their careers in music, per the newspaper.

Meg asked for the SUV to stop so she could get out. As she left the vehicle, Lanez allegedly fired five shots at her and shouted, “Dance, bitch!,” hitting her in the feet, the Times said. “I’m in shock. I’m scared. I hear the gun going off, and I can’t believe he’s shooting at me,” Meg told the jurors. After the shooting, they all drove away in the SUV, and Meg tried to slow the bleeding with towels that were in the back seat. Lanez allegedly told Meg and Harris that he would give them $1 million each if they didn’t tell the cops about the shooting. The car was stopped by police a few minutes later on Hollywood Boulevard. Jurors were presented with body-camera footage that showed officers ordering all four people in the SUV — including Meg as she was bleeding — onto the ground before they were detained.

At first, Meg didn’t report the shooting. She said in court on Tuesday that she wasn’t comfortable speaking with the authorities, as the incident had unfolded just months after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. “At the time, we are at the height of police brutality … I felt like if I said this man has just shot me, they might shoot first and ask questions later,” the Times quoted her as saying. “I don’t feel safe in the car. I don’t feel safe with the police officers, either.” Meg came forward against Lanez several weeks later in an Instagram Live, claiming that one of his reps was trying to spread fake information about the shooting.

On December 14, Harris said she didn’t want to be in court and described the proceeding as a “triggering situation,” according to Rolling Stone. “This is happening in the face of a million people, my name being thrown around, lies. I didn’t ask to be in this,” Harris was quoted as saying. Harris invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and prosecutors gave her “use immunity” for her testimony, per Rolling Stone. The prosecutor asked Harris whether she had previously told authorities that Lanez “threatened to shoot you.” Harris asked the judge if she had to respond, and when he said yes, she answered in the affirmative. Prosecutors showed jurors excerpts of Harris’s prior law-enforcement interview, from three months ago, when she made the claim about Lanez’s threat. Although Harris confirmed in court that she’d made this statement to authorities, she backtracked. Harris claimed what she said to prosecutors during this interview was “not accurate,” Rolling Stone quoted her testimony as saying. Harris then claimed that she was “not truthful” during that interview with prosecutors to “protect” herself.

Harris’s statement came as prosecutor Kathy Ta asked her to describe the alleged gun threat to jurors. “The night was a blur. We were under the influence,” Harris reportedly testified. She claimed she had difficulty remembering things and focusing on Ta’s questions due to anxiety and the death of someone close to her. After Ta asked Harris about her prior statement to prosecutors that Lanez was “aiming the gun straight but always in a downward direction toward Megan,” she claimed not to have witnessed the shooting. Harris did admit to sending texts that read “Help / Tory shot meg / 911” to the singer’s security guard but said that her messages stemmed from “assumptions” about what had happened, per Rolling Stone.

Cross-examination of Harris started on December 15.

This is a developing story and has been updated with additional information.

Megan Thee Stallion’s Former Friend Testifies in Lanez Trial