Megan Thee Stallion stood earlier than a federal jury in Miami Thursday morning to confront Milagro Gramz, the blogger she says has tormented her for years with false claims and damaging content material tied to the 2020 capturing involving Tory Lanez.

The Grammy-winning rapper testified in her defamation lawsuit in opposition to Gramz, often known as Milagro Cooper. The trial has peeled again layers of on-line harassment, alleged coordination with Lanez’s household and the circulation of a doctored express video that Gramz admitted she believed was actual.

“She said she felt the guilty verdict vindicated her, but said afterwards that the hatred became louder,” referencing Lanez’s conviction and 10-year sentence for capturing Pete in July 2020.

Megan Thee Stallion described the aftermath as a period of emotional and professional fallout, worsened by Gramz’s on-line assaults. The courtroom was proven X-rays of bullet fragments lodged in Megan Thee Stallion’s foot, which required surgical procedure.

As she spoke in regards to the capturing, Megan Thee Stallion grew visibly emotional, telling jurors she nonetheless attends remedy and infrequently seems like “no one cared that she was shot.”

“Everybody thought that I deserved to get shot because I talk about sex and I twerk and I drink,” she testified, in response to reporter Meghann Cunifh.

The trial, which started earlier this week, revealed that Milagro Gramz obtained greater than $3,000 in digital funds from Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, between October 2020 and March 2022.

The transactions, which ranged from $200 to $1,000, coincided with Milagro Gramz’s public protection of Lanez and her repeated makes an attempt to discredit Pete.

Text messages introduced in court docket confirmed Gramz promising Lanez that an “exclusive story would change her life” in September 2020. She additionally visited Lanez and his father in Miami in February 2022, the place she promoted his “Cap” music video.

When known as to the stand, Milagro Gramz admitted she believed a sexually express deepfake video of Meg was genuine when she shared it along with her viewers.

Under Florida regulation, distributing non-consensual express content material, even when believed to be actual, can carry each prison and civil penalties.

Gramz’s lawyer, Jeremy McLymont, argued she was merely expressing her opinion, saying she known as Megan Thee Stallion a liar “because Megan lied.”

But Megan Thee Stallion’s authorized workforce identified Milagro Gramz had no direct information of the capturing and refused to call her sources in court docket.

On the stand, Gramz additionally mentioned the funds from Lanez’s father have been for “personal reasons, including birthday gifts for her children and promotional work for Peterson’s podcast and book.”

But the timeline of these funds aligned intently along with her anti-Megan content material.

The lawsuit accuses Gramz of appearing as a “paid surrogate” for Lanez, working to “denigrate, belittle, insult, and spread false statements about Ms. Pete on her online social media platforms, for no other reason than to bully, harass and punish Ms. Pete for Mr. Peterson’s conviction and to tarnish her reputation, causing emotional distress.”

Court filings additionally revealed that Milagro Gramz deleted hundreds of messages and eliminated WhatsApp from her telephone, in violation of a court docket preservation order. The decide informed jurors they may assume the deleted materials would have harmed Gramz’s protection.

Megan Thee Stallion’s attorneys argued the harassment marketing campaign price her vital profession alternatives, together with a possible partnership with Google.

Meg is looking for damages for cyberstalking, emotional misery, false gentle invasion of privateness and the distribution of altered sexual imagery.

“Just because you have freedom of speech does not mean you have freedom to bully,” Megan informed reporters leaving the courthouse in a clip captured by reporter Cunfih.

Related