Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
The celebrity trial on everyone’s radar this week is The People v. Daystar Peterson, but given how aggressively hip-hop blogs have been trying to turn it into Megan Thee Stallion v. Tory Lanez, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it as such. Ever since the Grammy-winning rapper (whose legal name is Megan Pete) first accused Lanez (whose real name is Daystar Peterson) of shooting her in the foot in 2020, there’s been an obscene amount of disinformation being spread by highly followed social media personalities and blog sites about the ongoing court battle. From fixating on Megan’s sex life to attempting to discredit any particular detail of her account, such bloggers have pulled out all the stops trying to sensationalize this traumatic event—to devastating, reckless effects.
In February, controversial blogger and podcast host DJ Akademiks reported that the DNA of Lanez—who has pleaded not guilty to shooting Megan in the foot while yelling “dance, bitch”—had not been found on the gun used at the alleged crime scene.
“It was revealed in court few moments ago that Tory Lanez DNA WAS NOT found on the weapon in the Meg Thee Stallion case,” DJ Akademiks wrote in a now-deleted tweet to his 1.3 million followers.