In cross, Megan Thee Stallion defends trial testimony and says she didn't fight with friend
Milagro Cooper's lawyer will continue questioning Megan on Monday in Miami federal court in what could be the final day of trial in defamation lawsuit.
MIAMI — Megan Thee Stallion believes a man who testified in Tory Lanez’s criminal trial likely mistook Lanez for a woman when he recounted seeing two women fighting before a “short guy” with a gun fired shots.
“Tory Lanez is about 5-2, 5-3, and was very petite at the time, which is why people probably thought that two women were fighting,” Megan testified Friday in a federal trial over a lawsuit she brought against an online commentator she accuses of defaming her and intentionally inflicting with emotional distress by coordinating with Lanez. A third claim alleges she promoted a digitally altered sexual depiction of Megan in violation of a new Florida law.
A lawyer for online commentator and defendant Milagro Cooper questioned the rapper about the July 2020 shooting on Friday to try to persuade jurors that Milagro didn’t defame Megan by saying she lied in Lanez’s criminal trial to convict an innocent man.
Jeremy McLymont, an attorney in Miami, Florida, focused on Megan’s testimony that she was not drunk and that she had nerve damage in her left foot, despite a doctor’s report that said there was no “nerve involvement” in her left foot.
He also emphasized eyewitness Sean Kelly’s testimony about two women fighting as he implies Megan lied when she testified Lanez shot her and implies that the gunfire came from her now-former friend Kelsey Harris as Milagro has contended.
McLymont also implied Megan is wrongly accusing Milagro when Megan says Lanez told Milagro to say Megan is an alcoholic.
“That’s your opinion?” McLymont asked.
“Yes,” Megan answered.
“It’s not a proven fact, right?” McLymont asked.
“It can’t be proven because we can’t see the messages,” Megan said, referring to the thousands of texts deleted by Milagro in violation of a legal notice.
“It’s not a proven fact, but you’re stating it as though it’s a fact?” McLymont asked.
“Just like Milagro stated that it’s a fact that I lied about Tory shooting me,” Megan answered.
“So are you defaming Tory Lanez and Milagro Cooper when you say that it’s your opinion that Milagro Cooper is getting information from Tory Lanez?” McLymont asked.
“No, I’m not defaming her or him,” Megan answered.
“Alright. But Ms. Cooper is defaming you when she gives her opinion?” McLymont asked.
“Yes, and presents it as facts,” Megan answered.
Megan’s lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP didn’t object to her being asked to give a legal conclusion.
McLymont, a licensed attorney in Florida since 2018, took a slow and conversational approach to his cross-examination of Megan. At one point, he implied Megan is suing Milagro out of jealousy, emphasizing that Milagro “has some sort of relationship with Tory Lanez.”
“You do not like that?” McLymont asked.
“I don’t care about whatever you’re trying to ask me. What I care about is Tory giving this woman information to say about me, to lie about me, about the trial. That’s what I care about,” Megan answered.
McLymont at one point told Megan, “So I’m asking questions. All I need is just simple answers” when Megan asked what he was getting at, but he mostly didn’t push back when Megan responded with her own questions. He said rappers Meek Mill and Drake support Lanez and Megan asked, “Are you saying that make it OK” for Milagro to harass her.
“No, I just want to make sure that we’re actually pinpointing the cause of any emotional distress” and not blaming it on Milagro, McLymont told Megan.
McLymont described Milagro as someone who “has the least amount of influence,” and Megan asked why he thinks that.
“Is it because she’s a woman and the rest of everybody is a man?” Megan asked.
“Well, she’s not famous, right?” McLymont answered.
Megan said Milagro is famous “for talking crap about me online.”
McLymont and Megan were discussing Milagro’s level of fame when U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga said, “Mr. McLymont, you’re an attorney” and told him to stop speaking when the witness speaks.
“I’ve never heard of that, judge,” McLymont said.
The judge chuckled and said, “I’m telling you that.”
McLymont asked Megan what the definition of defamation is.
“Everything Milagro has done to me,” she answered. Her attorneys again didn’t object to her being asked to give a legal conclusion, so Megan continued testifying that she doesn’t know “the technical definition” but believes defamation is “somebody lying on you, somebody slandering you, making statements against you that are not true.”
Megan’s lawyers also did not object when McLymont asked her to read aloud emails she said she’d never seen before.
The emails are from Roc Nation executive and prior witness Daniel Kinney about her missed marketing deals, which her attorneys are attributing to her emotional distress over Milagro’s harassment.
McLymont highlighted an email from a Just Eats executive about Megan’s attorneys wanting filming hours reduced from 10 to nine and mentioning “private jets to move MTS and her glam” and additional costs beyond their “already sizable” budget.
Megan said she didn’t know the context and had never seen the email.
“No problem,” McLymont said.
In one from December 2023, Kinney, who testified on Wednesday, says they are awaiting Megan’s attorneys, “who admittedly have not been the fastest, but the time of the year is also tricky with kids’ graduations and the holiday week.”
Kinney also wrote that Megan “did not tell us last minute that she was planning to travel this week and go offline for some personal time.”
McLymont asked Megan if the delays “are attributed to multiple things.”
“Again, you want me to say something about a conversation I know nothing about,” Megan testified. She said she doesn’t know why Kinney wrote what he wrote.
“I don’t even remember half of these things happening. I don’t know what you want me to say about this,” Megan told McLymont.
Kinney testified earlier that Megan backed out of a Call of Duty video game character deal when she realized her character would be shootable, so McLymont displayed a tweet from Megan in 2021 that quoted Call of Duty and said “We need a hot girl skin ASAP.”
“Somebody who’s able to be on my Twitter account could have said this,” Megan testified.
McLymont also asked Megan about Milagro’s tweet falsely stating Lanez’s DNA wasn’t found on the gun when DNA results were inconclusive.
“They’re saying that it was no way at all, like his DNA was not on the weapon, so he didn’t do it,” Megan testified.
McLymont told her she’s “reading into it.”
“Whachu mean I’m reading into it?” Megan asked.
“Did you just say that there’s no DNA on the weapon and so Tory didn’t do it?” McLymont asked.
Megan said no, Milagro said that and has “already said she doesn’t believe Tory Lanez did the shooting.”
“Did someone find Lanez’s DNA on the weapon?” McLymont asked.
“Did someone not find his DNA on the weapon?” Megan replied.
“It’s really yes or no. Either they found his DNA or they did not,” McLymont asked. Megan’s lawyers didn’t object for misstating the evidence.
“It was inconclusive,” Megan answered.
McLymont also asked Megan why she never “blocked” Milagro on social media.
“I want her to keep seeing me winning even though she wishes so many bad things on me,” Megan testified.
McLymont said “maybe she’ll come to a show” and Megan said, “I hope not.”
McLymont shifted to questions about the shooting and injuries on Kelsey. He played a clip from Megan’s deposition in July in which she said “I don’t know what I saw” when asked if she saw Lanez “put his hands on Kelsey.”
“Today you’re telling the jurors that for sure, Tory Lanez put his hands on Kelsey,” McLymont said.
“I don’t know exactly what I saw, but that’s what Kelsey said. She said that he slapped her, pulled her hair” and “probably crunched her with a closed fist,” Megan testified.
McLymont displayed a photo of Kelsey at the police station after the shooting and said he was “trying to figure out why she has marks on her leg.”
“Do you know whether you gave her those marks?” he asked.
That’s when Megan said she believes the witness who testified he saw two women fighting mistook Lanez for a woman. She said she wants “to make it very clear” that she’s almost 6-feet tall while Kelsey is “about 4-11.”
“Tory Lanez is about 5-2, 5-3, and was very petite at the time, which is why people probably thought that two women were fighting,” Megan testified. She said she “wouldn’t have had to” because she and Kelsey weren’t fighting.
“If he know he saw two women fighting, that would be one thing. He thought he saw two women fighting,” Megan said.
“So it’s your testimony that you thought he saw two women fighting?” McLymont asked.
“Yes,” Megan answered.
Judge Altonaga adjourned court then.
Megan is to return to the witness stand Monday at 8:30 a.m., then Milagro is expected to testify again. Closing arguments are expected Monday, and the jury will begin deliberating after Judge Alontaga instructs them. There could be a verdict that day. If not, they’ll continue deliberating Tuesday.
Milagro’s former live stream moderator breaks down as he testifies about online vitriol
Before Megan testified, a man who used to moderate comments on Milagro’s live streams began sobbing as he testified about quitting in December 2021 amid mounting vitriol.
Amiel Holland-Briggs also testified that Milagro said Lanez said he was wrestling over the gun with Kelsey when it accidentally discharged.
“I thought it could be possible,” he testified. However, “we didn’t know anything, and my advice to her was to not put anything out, because we didn’t have any evidence to support that.”
“Did Ms. Cooper follow your advice?” asked Marie Hayrapetian, an associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Sullivan, LLP.
“No, she didn’t,” Holland-Briggs answered.
Milagro’s approach changed after she spoke with Lanez and his father, they began to argue about “how the narrative begins spinning in a direction that I did not like.”
As their disagreements escalated, “I made a shift in life to where a lot of things came into perspective.” Holland-Briggs began to cry as he said he “felt guilty” as he heard “people talking about suicide.”
“It just weighed me down,” Holland-Briggs testified, choking up.
He put his face in his hands and wept. U.S. District Judge Altonaga gave the courtroom security officer tissues to give to him as Hayrapetian took him tissues, too. He turned in his chair and with his back to the gallery sobbed audibly as Judge Altonaga called a brief recess.
When trial resumed about five minutes later, Holland-Briggs had regained his composure and testified about witnessing Milagro harass people online after using their addresses to clean information about them. He described her followers as “cult like.”
“It’s almost as if somebody turns their brain off and they decide to not do their own logical thinking,” he said.
In cross-examination, Milagro’s lawyer Laisa Ene Pertet emphasized that Holland-Briggs supported Lanez over Megan, too. She showed jurors a text Holland-Briggs sent Milagro about Lanez’s have more streams on a song than Megan had on a song.
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Pertet also highlighted how a discussion between Milagro and Holland-Briggs about his romantic relationship “spilled over” into a public online discussion about his partner’s gender identity.
By highlighting the cyberbullying, Pertet was apparently trying to show jurors he has ulterior motives for testifying against Milagro.
Pertet asked Holland-Briggs why he doesn’t have texts supporting his testimony that Milagro told him Lanez said the shooting happened when he and Kelsey were wrestling over the gun and it discharged.
“Do you have any proof that that that conversation happened between Daystar Peterson and Ms. Cooper?” Pertet asked.
“No,” Holland-Briggs answered.
Another witness testified via deposition video that Milagro said Lanez promised her a podcast with him and DJ Akademiks in exchange for her appearing on a documentary about the case.
“She was excited about it. She looked forward to it, and she thought it was a great opportunity,” Antonio Tolefree testified.
“That would be a substantial boost for Ms. Cooper’s social media,” a lawyer with Quinn Emanuel asked. “That’s right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tolefree answered.
Tolefree said his “understanding” is that Milagro also received a donation from Lanez “to support her platform, to support her business.” He said he doesn’t know how much it was.
Milagro also said she received money from Lanez’s father, Tolefree testified.
Tolefree said he sometimes donated $20 or so to Milagro because he knew she relied on donations and “I enjoyed her content because she was more vulgar than everybody else online.”
“Do you know if Ms. Cooper was aware of the impact her public statements were having on Ms. Pete?” the attorney asked.
Tolefree said he believes she knew “because I felt like she was happy about the attention she was getting” and Megan “would sometimes do things” that indicated she was bothered.
“So your understanding is that Ms. Cooper was aware of how her statements were impacting Ms. Pete but chose not to do anything?” the attorney asked.
“Yes,” Tolefree answered.
Jury sees depos w/ Lanez, his father & Akademiks
Peterson
Jurors on Thursday saw about 20 minutes of video deposition testimony from Lanez’s father, Sonstar Peterson, including him loudly acknowledging Jesus Christ’s presence in the deposition.
“Unlike Quinn Emanuel [law firm], who has brought false accusations against me and my son, I really want answering you truthfully,” Peterson said.
He said he didn’t have a lawyer with him, but “I have a counsel who is called the Holy Spirit. I’ve always trusted and relied on him in every situation of my life.”
“God, if there be any perjury at all, it is the fact that I know my name is written in your book of life, and I refuse the purge of my soul before this or anyone else, just in order to get a pass,” Peterson prayed.
Peterson said he learned of Milagro from his wife after she saw her show on YouTube. He paid for her to travel to Miami to meet with him, but he said he doesn’t know if Lanez had already told Milagro about the shooting.
Lanez
Jurors also saw about eight minutes from Lanez’s two depositions in prison. In the first, Lanez asks Megan’s attorney to clarify who Megan Pete is.
“Do you know how many Megan Petes there are in the world?” he asked.
Lanez’s lawyer at the time, Michael Hayden, told Lanez the question “wasn’t a trick or anything.”
Lanez smiled and said “we have all day. I have 10 years.”
Lanez remained combative, telling the attorney “ you go too far, I’m going to walk out.”
“I already lost the appeal. I’m already in jail,” Lanez said. “Tere’s no amount of money that you guys are going to throw at me and penalize you that’s going to make me scared.”
The attorney asked if Lane’z father messaged Milagro in September 2020 asking her to send Lanez her number, and Lanez said he wouldn’t answer because it’s “part of my legal proceedings in my criminal case.”
Lanez walked out of the deposition.
DJ Akademiks
Early Wednesday, jurors heard about 35 minutes of excepts from DJ Akademiks’ video depositions, including him first dealing to say who told him about the DNA report in his now-deleted tweet that falsely stated Lanez’s DNA wasn’t found on the gun.
Milagro posted a tweet with the same wording and refused to delete it, then said in a live stream that she was willing to be sued over it. She’s said she and Akademiks had the same source, which Megan’s lawyers allege is Lanez.
Jurors saw video from a second deposition and heard Megan’s lawyer tell Akademiks, legal name Livingston Allen, that a judge had said he’s “not allowed to avoid answering the question on the basis of any journalistic privilege.”
Akademiks said he didn’t recall how or when he got the information.
Judge’s ruling presumes damages for defamation
Attorneys finalized jury instructions on Friday after the jury left early, and Judge Alontaga determined damages for defamation will be presumed as Megan’s lawyers argued they should be, because she ruled Milagro does not qualify as media under Florida law.
Hoping to change the ruling, McLymont on Saturday rplied to a brief Megan’s lawyers filed before trial. But I don’t believe Judge Alontaga’s decision will change.
Megan’s lawyers’ brief uses Milagro’s own words against her.
“Everything is not meant to be a news report. I did not tell anybody I was a reporter.”
“I ain’t never told you I went to school for journalism. ... You don’t need to be a journalist to see something and give an opinion about it.”
It also says Milagro isn’t a media defendant because nothing has changed since Judge Altonaga’s order that she’s not media and thus didn’t need to be notified of a possible civil action.
“Defendant’s function has never been to impartially disseminate information or inform on matters of public interest,” according to the brief. “Rather, Defendant’s spread of misinformation, charged commentary on matters that lack a connection with the public interest (such as Ms. Pete’s alleged mental status or family background), and evidence of Defendant being commissioned by the Petersons to publish her statements all underscore Defendant’s non-media status.”
McLymont’s filing says Judge Alontaga “must undergo a new analysis at this stage” regarding Milagor’s media status, and “analysis at this stage yields a different result.” He cited her contract with Stationhead for five-hour shows five days a week, which she’s had since 2021.
“Ms. Cooper has operated her own radio station talk show as a career to feed her family since 2021. She is paid just under a six-figure salary as an independent contractor for Stationhead. She has no other source of income not related to media hosting,” according to the brief. (The brief doesn’t mention this and jurors haven’t heard this, but Milagro testified in a deposition that the contract pays her $6,300 a month.)
McLymont’s filing says Judge Alontaga “must undergo a new analysis at this stage” regarding Milagor’s media status, and “analysis at this stage yields a different result.” He cited her contract with Stationhead for five-hour shows five days a week, which she’s had since 2021.
“Ms. Cooper has operated her own radio station talk show as a career to feed her family since 2021. She is paid just under a six-figure salary as an independent contractor for Stationhead. She has no other source of income not related to media hosting,” according to the brief.
The brief doesn’t mention this and jurors haven’t heard this, but Milagro testified in a deposition that the contract pays her $6,300 a month.
Megan’s lawyers said in a six-page reply that Milagro “does not qualify as a media defendant even if she makes money from her defamatory conduct.”
“Defendant’s brief misses the mark on the legal standard to determine whether a defendant qualifies as a ‘media defendant’ and relies on conjecture untied to evidence in the record in an attempt to show Defendant as one,” according to the brief.
The brief said Milagro admitted in testimony that she emailed Lanez’s father information “in an effort to try and show that Daystar Peterson was innocent.” She also published information from “with no independent corroboration and pushed it out to the masses in order to sway public sentiment.”
The Stationhead contact her lawyers cite isn’t in trial evidence, and the evidence that was admitted shows “a complete absence of impartiality, journalistic integrity, or desire to tell anything but a one-sided, defamatory story.”
Court documents:
Nov. 23 reply
Nov. 22 Milagro’s media brief
Nov. 16 Megan’s media brief
Nov. 16 contempt order against Lanez
Nov. 13 Megan’s exhibit list
Nov. 13 Megan’s witness list
Oct. 30 judge rejects Lanez’s motion to quash
Oct. 9 sanctions order for deleted texts
Sept. 16 Aidin Ross’ motion to quash
Aug. 14 transcript of Milagro’s deposition
Aug. 1 order re: Lanez’s deposition
April 16 contempt motion for Lanez
April 16 transcript of Lanez’s deposition
Feb. 10 most recent complaint
Dec. 23, 2024 motion to dismiss
Previous articles:
Ceaser McDowell, Daniel Kinney, Lenore Walker
Opening statements and Milagro
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