Fans of the Canadian hip-hop artist attack jury, Jay-Z and Roc Nation in multiple petitions to appeal his conviction on three felony charges in connection to the July 2020 shooting.
- Dec 27, 2022
AceShowbiz - Tory Lanez has found support in his fans. The "Say It" spitter's fans have launched various petitions urging an appeal for the rapper after he was found guilty in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case.
At least three such petitions have been created on Change.org since a Los Angeles grand jury returned the guilty verdict on Friday, December 23. The petition with the most signatures, created on the same day the 30-year-old emcee was remanded into custody, was rapidly approaching its goal of 25,000 signatures, with over 24,600 collected at press time.
The campaign was accompanied by a lengthy argument calling multiple aspects of the trial into question, including the jury selection process, the charges levied against Tory as well as Megan and her ex-BFF Kelsey Nicole Harris' "drunken memories."
"Tory Lanez was found Guilty of all charges and it is a true miscarriage of justice!" petitioner Yasin Toure wrote. "The state did not prove that [Tory] undoubtedly committed any crime. Reasonable doubt loomed over a 10 day trial as the prosecution was unable to show us that there were no alternative explanations of the events. A circus of speculation, insufficient evidence, inconsistencies, and drunken memories left us without much moral certainty of any truth."
The petition went on to call Megan's honesty into question, asking why she did not originally identify Tory as her shooter and also pointing to past interviews where she denied having had an intimate relationship with the Canadian singer.
Towards the end of the statement, Yasin also suggested, as Tory's father Sonstar Peterson had, that Jay-Z had somehow influenced the jury's decision. "This case is also about branding, marketing, label heads and a music industry that pushes narratives based on who they have personally invested millions into. Could Jay-Z or RocNation be involved??" he penned, "The justice I want for Megan is for the full truth to come out, rather than the scrambled truth we are left with. Who really hurt Meg?"
"Was this case taken because of a political pressure to fake protect black women? African-Americans went along with hashtags that didn't protect anyone & instead caused division between black women and black men. A trick that we so easily fall for. This petition is not to tear down nor chastise Megan Thee Stallion, but it is about asking our justice system to do the right thing," Yasin continued. "And the injustice for one of us is an injustice for us all. Simply, the case against Tory Lanez deserves a more thorough investigation."
In addition to Yasin's petition, a second petition created on December 24 has collected 118 signatures, with a third post-verdict petition created on the same day carrying less than 100 supporters.
The jury found Tory guilty of all three charges on Friday, December 23. The charges include felony negligent discharge of a firearm, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm. He faces a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison and the possibility of deportation back to Canada.
