Megan Thee Stallion entered a significant new part of her authorized struggle on Tuesday, November 18th, as a federal jury in Miami started listening to her defamation case in opposition to on-line commentator Milagro Cooper. What introduced the 2 ladies to courtroom is Megan’s declare that Cooper used her platform to assault her character, dismiss her testimony, and fire up hostility towards her after she recognized Tory Lanez as the one who shot her in 2020. Lanez was later convicted of the crime, and Megan is now asking the courtroom to carry Cooper chargeable for what she describes as intentional and damaging conduct.

The lawsuit contains three central claims: defamation, intentional infliction of emotional misery, and the promotion of an altered sexual depiction. This final rely depends on Florida’s new 2024 regulation addressing the distribution of AI created sexual imagery. Megan says Cooper favored a deepfake video of her on X after which posted “Go to my likes,” which Megan’s crew argues inspired followers to observe and unfold the altered clip. She says Cooper repeated comparable directions on Stationhead, signaling purposeful course relatively than informal on-line engagement.

Before the trial started, attorneys questioned potential jurors about their information of Lanez’s case, their views of Megan, and whether or not they knew something about his conviction. After 9 jurors have been chosen, they have been advised they might see deposition footage from Lanez and commentary from influencers reminiscent of Adin Ross and DJ Akademiks, each of whom have talked in regards to the case on-line.

Cooper turned the primary witness to testify. On the stand, she admitted she pointed her viewers towards the specific AI video, however argued that the clip was already circulating and that viewers have been asking about it. She insisted she lined the story on her personal phrases, although she acknowledged that she hoped Lanez would possibly ultimately sit down together with her for an unique interview.

Judge Cecilia Altonaga determined earlier this yr that Cooper’s try to dismiss the lawsuit didn’t meet authorized requirements, which cleared the way in which for this trial. Proceedings are anticipated to final via subsequent Wednesday, and jurors could return after Thanksgiving if extra time is required.