Unpacking Megan Thee Stallion’s Florida Defamation Trial

Megan thee Stallion appeared in a Miami courtroom this week for a defamation case against a blogger she says acted as a “paid surrogate” for Tory Lanez, who shot her in the foot in 2020 and was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon in 2022. Megan alleges that Milagro Gramz (real name Milagro Cooper) has spent years harassing and bullying her about the incident, including directing followers to a deep-fake pornographic video of the rapper.

Megan claims that Cooper’s actions have caused intense emotional distress, at one point testifying that the commentator’s posts put her in such a bad mental state that she “genuinely didn’t care” if she lived or died. Here’s what you need to know about the trial.

Why is Megan Thee Stallion in court?

In a complaint filed in Florida last October, Megan claimed that Cooper, an online commentator who describes herself as “your front-row seat to the pulse of urban culture,” has spent years acting as an “online rumor mill” for Lanez. According to Megan, since Lanez was indicted for shooting her in 2020, Cooper has “performed [Lanez’s] public bidding to denigrate, belittle, insult, and spread false statements” about her, “for no other reason than to bully, harass, and punish” the rapper.

Megan’s lawyers claim that Cooper has previously accused Megan of having “a severe drinking problem” and once asked her followers if she had “ever been deemed, like, legally retarded.” Additionally, they say Cooper, who hosts a talk show on the platform Stationhead and regularly streams on Twitch, has frequently spread misinformation about Lanez’s 2022 trial. She claimed the firearm Lanez used to shoot Megan was missing (it was not) and has cast doubt on the fact that Megan was shot at all. “The State did prove that fact, and [Lanez] is currently serving a 10-year sentence for it,” Megan’s lawyers wrote in the complaint.

Perhaps most disturbingly, in 2024, Cooper apparently directed her followers to a deep-fake video of Megan “purportedly engaged in sexual acts without [her] knowledge or consent.” While Cooper did not create the video, the suit says, she liked a post on X that published it, and then posted a tweet instructing her followers to “go to my likes,” where they could find the video.

Megan is suing Cooper for promotion of a sexually altered depiction, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy. The original complaint also included a count of cyberstalking, but that has since been dropped. It’s not clear what exact dollar amount Megan is seeking in damages.

What did Megan say in her testimony?

Megan took the stand on Thursday and Friday, giving an emotional testimony about how Cooper’s attempts to discredit her have affected her over the years. “She’s created a space for a lot of people to come speak negatively about me,” Megan told the courtroom, per ABC News. “I felt like nobody cared that I was shot,” she said. “I know everyone was making jokes about it.”

Click here to preview your posts with PRO themes ››

According to the rapper, the harassment spurred by Cooper’s posts led to a serious mental-health struggle. “There was a time that I genuinely didn’t care if I lived or died,” she said. “I felt like, no way I mattered. No way I should even be living. I don’t want to be here. I’m tired of waking up. I just wanted to die. I was so tired of being alive.”

According to NBC News, Megan sobbed on the stand while discussing the deep-fake video Cooper allegedly amplified. “To this day, I feel a little, like, defeated,” Megan said about the video. “Because no matter what, no matter if the video was fake or not … [Cooper] wanted it to be real.” She added, “I know it’s not me, but to be in front of everybody else and they have to watch it — it’s really embarrassing.”

According to a report from journalist Meghann Cuniff, Megan’s friend Travis Farris testified that the rapper paid $240,000 for a month of inpatient treatment for depression in the aftermath of the deep-fake video.

What did Cooper say on the stand?

The online commentator testified on Monday and Tuesday and denied any wrongdoing. Cooper said that all of her commentary about the shooting was done without any influence from Lanez. She admitted that she had spoken to him on the phone and hoped to have him as a guest on her channel, but said he did not have a personal influence on her content. She also acknowledged that she had received payments from Lanez’s father, which she claimed were for her and her daughters’ birthdays and some “promotional services.”

Cooper maintained that she is uncertain about Lanez’s guilt but she’s open to being proven wrong. (The fact that he was found guilty by a jury of his peers is not enough, apparently.) “If a situation presented itself that made it clear 100 percent, all I could do is bow down and apologize,” Cooper told the court, according to another report from Cuniff.

Is Megan going to sue other bloggers?

It doesn’t seem like she has any plans to at the moment, but she did have a message for the people who might be willfully spreading misinformation online. “Just because you have freedom of speech does not mean you have freedom to bully,” she said.

A verdict in the case will most likely be delivered next week.