Jury hears Megan Thee Stallion's assailant Tory Lanez discuss sued streamer's legal defense
Jurors also heard testimony Wednesday from a Roc Nation executive and from a renowned psychologist who said Megan has post-traumatic stress disorder.
Jurors in Megan Thee Stallion’s defamation trial on Wednesday heard Megan’s imprisoned assailant discuss defending the online commentator she’s suing during a prison call with the founder of a legal services agency.
The call between Tory Lanez, the rapper who shot Megan in 2020, and Ceasar McDowell of Unite the People included McDowell reading aloud a statement about his agency defending Milagro Cooper against Megan’s lawsuit, which accuses Milagro of coordinating with Lanez to harass Megan.
“Why are you telling him about the press release?” asked Marie Hayrapetian, an associate with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP.
“I don’t remember why,” McDowell asked.
Lanez asked McDowell “isn’t that a conflict of interest” for Unite the People to defend Milagro when he’s a member of the board of directors.
“The only conflict of interest would be if Milagro didn’t know we had represented you,” McDowell told Lanez.
“So why is it not a conflict of interest to represent both Tory and Ms. Cooper?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
McDowell’s testimony were presented to support Megan’s claim that Milagro intentionally inflicted emotional distress on her by coordinating with Lanez. The other claims are defamation and promoting a digital altered sexual depiction, in violation of Florida law enacted in 2024.
McDowell, who was released from California prison in 2020 after serving 20 years, repeatedly answered “I don’t remember” to basic questions such as how he started Unite the People and Lanez’s involvement, including whether Lanez approves its social media posts.
Jurors saw a website post from McDowell about Lanez donating $50,000 to Unite the People to pay others’ legal fees. They also saw an email McDowell’s staff forwarded from him to Milagro in December 2023 with a filing from Lanez’s appellate case.
“Do you remember Tory telling you to share his case filings with bloggers?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
“You needed to update Tory because he promised to help pay for any fees and costs relating to Ms. Cooper’s defense, correct?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
“You needed to update Tory because he’s funding your organization, correct?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
The call between Lanez and McDowell included Lanez telling McDowell, “You’ve got the Meghann Cuniff bitch trying to make it seem like — or the Meghann Cuniff lady trying to make it seem like we don’t know what we’re doing.” Lanez said he loves “being the underdogs” and “if this can help us win the race” he wants to do it.
“Who’s Meghann Cuniff?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
“Meghann Cuniff was a journalist writing about Tory’s conviction, right?” Hayrapetian asked.
“I don’t remember,” McDowell answered.
Hayrapetian also asked if I also wrote about Megan’s testimony that Lanez shot her, and McDowell said he doesn’t remember. Jurors later saw a rant McDowell posted on Unite the People’s Instagram calling me a “useful tool” for Megan’s lawyers and saying I’m “repeatedly wrong about what is really happening in this case.”
In another call on Nov. 19, McDowell tells Lanez he had to pay a Florida lawyer $5,000 to serve as a “pro hac vice” sponsor for Unite the People’s lawyer. Hayrapetian asked McDowell about Milagro testifying in a deposition that “Caeser stole my money” by first telling her Unite the People would represent her pro bono, then telling her, “I need money for your lawyer” or “you’re not going to have a lawyer.”
“Why would Ms. Cooper accuse you of stealing her money?” Hayrapetian asked.
Megan’s friend testifies about $240K therapy
After McDowell’s deposition, Megan’s friend and roommate Travis Farris testified in person about how social media vitriol has affected her.
Farris wasn’t there when Megan was shot, but he went to where they were stopped by police in Hollywood and was told she’d been taken to a hospital. He said Megan didn’t immediately say Lanez had shot her because “she was trying to save everybody in the car that night.”
He went with Megan to Tampa Bay, Florida, after the shooting to try to recover. He’d fish in the bay from the backyard and talk with Megan about “trying to get past the stress that she was dealing with at the time.”
He said he learned of Milagro shortly after Megan was shot in July 2020 from people sending him her posts.
Jurors saw a recording from August 2022 that began with her saying, “Megan, you come from a line of alcoholics.”
Farris said she shared the recording with Megan and she was “sad, upset.” “Don’t want to talk to me about it, don’t want to do anything, just be in her room,” he said.
Jurors saw a text Megan sent Farris on Aug. 30, 2022 that said, “Nobody gives me grace and understanding. I’ve been shot but somehow everyone else is a victim and I’m under consistent attack and ridicule.” She mentions “people on the Internet and people in my real life.”
“I feel like I’m always under attack,” Megan wrote.
Farris responded, “Look what the Bible says about people who hate for no reason” and sent her Psalm 69:4.
Megan asked Farris in another text, “Do you think I should do the shows?”
“No if its not going to make you feel better,” Farris replied.
Farris testified Wednesday the shows were cancelled, and it wasn’t the only time that happened. He said he felt powerless to help Megan.
“None of my words or my Bible verses worked,” he said.
Jurors saw a recording of Milagro discussing jury selection in Lanez’s December 2022 trial in Los Angeles, including “a older Black woman that looked like her ass was falling asleep,” “a damn Asian” and “at least two old white-ass men.” She also called a prosecutor “a pretty white boy” “who looks like a kid” and said some women seemed interested in him sexually.
Farris said Megan heard the recording during trial and “couldn’t understand, like, what this was about.”
“We couldn’t understand, like what this was about. Like, what was this purpose of this … talking about the jurors?” he testified.
Farris also testified about telling Megan about the digital altered, sexually explicit video that Milagro promoted of Megan on social media, and helping her get into a therapy center for depression. He said she was there for a month and it cost $240,000.
In cross-examination, Milagro’s lawyer Laisa Ene Pertet questioned Farris about his decision to show Megan derogatory social media posts about her.
“Did you ever at any point suggest to Ms. Pete that she should remove herself from social media?” Pertet asked.
“Yes, and she did,” Farris answered.
“But you continue to show her the posts that were coming in from social media regardless?” Pertet asked.
“Yes,” Farris answered.
Farris said he did so because she’d eventually see it from someone else and “I’m able to be a little bit more comfort.”
Pertet also questioned Farris about Megan’s alcohol use. Farris said they drink not when they’re sad but when they’re “celebrating good things.”
“Is it is your testimony today that Ms. Pete has never struggled with alcoholism. Is that correct?” Pertet asked.
“No, not alcoholism,” Farris answered.
Pertet asked if Megan was treated for alcoholism at the $240,000 per month therapy center, and Farris said no.
Pertet asked if he felt the $240,000 monthly cost was reasonable. Farris said no, but he wanted to get Megan help because “I realized that I’m not a therapist”
Roc Nation exec testifies about Megan’s lost deals
Jurors also heard testimony Wednesday from an executive with Roc Nation, Megan’s management company that’s owned by Jay-Z, about four marketing deals that fell through amid Megan’s mounting depression.
Daniel Kinney, Roc Nation’s senior vice president of branding and strategic partnerships, testified Megan was set to be “the first female in-game character” in Activision’s Call of Duty game, which would include “a series of skins and charms and catchphrases … unique to Megan.”
Kinney said Call of Duty “is one of the holy grails in advertising, especially in entertainment” because so many entertainers “legitimately love the game and play it all the time.”
The marketing value “was worth many tens of millions to us.” The deal fell through when Megan realized her character “was somebody that you could actually shoot in the game” and “that triggered her.”
“She full stop said, ‘I’m not going to do this. I’m not showing up tomorrow. I’m pulling out of this deal,’” Kinney testified.
Kinney also testified about a $1.4 million deal for Google’s Pixel phone that was to make Megan the face of a Super Bowl advertising campaign that would promote her as “a top celebrity who’s very in demand.”
Google was ready to send a jet to pick Megan up for filming, but Kinney said Megan wasn’t available, and they couldn’t secure another date.
“Google basically said, ‘If we can’t shoot this by this date, we’re going to move on.’ And because we couldn’t be confirmed with them, they moved on,” Kinney testified.
Another deal involved Just Eat Takeaway, which owns Grub Hub and wanted Megan to “create a song for them and star in a commercial” that would air in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Kinney said.
Kinney said the $2.6 million deal was “an opportunity to build a profile in Europe.”
“There are very few commercial opportunities that will give you that kind of placement on commercials and billboards in multiple countries,” Kinney said.
Jurors saw an email a Just Eat representative sent Kinney asking about Megan’s announcement that she was “stepping back from music to heal.”
“I think that they were worried what it would mean for their campaign,” Kinney said testified. “That partnership did not proceed.”
The final opportunities Kinney discussed was with U.S. Women’s Soccer Federation for Megan to “create their official anthem.” The deal was for just $60,000 because the soccer federation is a nonprofit organization, but “the exposure is global.”
Kinney said the deal “did not go through” because Megan “did not complete the song in a timely manner.”
“I was being told she was not in a good headspace,” Kinney said.
Renowned psychologist testifies Megan has PTSD
The final witness on Thursday was Lenore Walker, a psychologist for 50 years and pioneer researcher on abused women.
Walker diagnosed Megan with post-traumatic stress disorder after meeting with her through video and reviewing testimony from Lanez’s trial as well as hospital and therapy records. She watched her documentary and “looked at a number of music videos … to try to understand her work and how this impacted her work.” She also reviewed social media posts and recordings of Milagro.
Walker testified on Wednesday that “one of the serious triggers” for Megan is her belief that Lanez “was continuing to be angry and wanted to hurt her, and was using Ms. Cooper to do that.”
“It was one trigger on top of another trigger that was quite frightening to her,” Walker testified.
Walker also reviewed Lanez’s “Cap” video in which he’s chopping an apparent horse leg in a butcher shop, and she saw the digitally created, sexual explicit video of Megan that Milagro promoted.
“There was a lot of keeping it going in the media, and then telling her to get over it,” Walker testified. “Ms. Pete said she would have loved to have gotten over it. It was she just wasn’t able to do that.”
She said Megan’s PTSD originated from being shot and has merged with her trauma over cyberbullying.
“Just recently, she told me that it’s still very hard for her to create, even though she does still go out and perform,” Walker testified.
Milagro’s lawyer Nathacha Bien-Aime, a licensed lawyer in Florida since 2019, for seven years, cross-examined Walker, who has testified in thousands of trials over several decades.
She first asked how much Walker is being paid. She’s received about $24,000 and will be paid $5,000 a day for each day in court
Bien-Aime also emphasized that Walker met with Megan virtually from her office in South Florida. Walker said she observed Megan’s body language.
“You would agree that it would be better in person versus on computer screens, right?” Bien-Aime asked.
“Not always. Sometimes yes, but sometimes no,” Walker answered.
Walker dismissed Bien-Aime’s suggestion that someone else could have been in the room with Megan because someone being quiet for that long is “hard for anybody to do.”
Bien-Aime asked if Megan selected the videos Walker reviewed and Walker said, “No, actually, some of my staff are young people, and they knew her videos, and they picked out several videos they wanted me to look at.”
Bien-Aime also questioned Walker about Megan’s feud with rapper Nicki Minaj to try to show that she had other problems that could be upsetting her.
“Do you know who Nicki Minaj is?” Bien-Aime asked.
“I once saw her on television, so I think I know who she is,” Walker answered.
“Do you know that a diss track is a song that insults, disrespects or verbally attacks another person?” Bien-Aime asked.
“No,” Walker answered.
Bien-Aime also asked about Megan’s ex-boyfriend writing a “diss track” about her. Walker said she didn’t know of it and added, “I wouldn’t want anyone to interview my ex-boyfriends.”
Thursday’s testimony
Megan began testifying Thursday afternoon.
Jurors also heard testimony Milagro’s former live stream moderator Amiel Holland-Briggs, who began sobbing on the witness stand as he testified about his decision to quit amid mounting disagreement online vitriol over Milagro’s approach.
I’ll have much more in my next article.
Previous articles:
Thank you for supporting my independent legal affairs journalism. Your paid subscriptions make my work possible. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, please consider purchasing a subscription through Substack. You also can support me through my merchandise store and by watching my YouTube channel. Also, please follow me on Facebook and Instagram as I grow my Meta presence. Thank you!