Daystar Peterson, aka Tory Lan*z, please kindly remove yourself from the public eye and do not speak. On Monday, Megan Thee Stallion revealed she was shot in both feet and had to go to the hospital for surgery to have the bullets removed. Unfortunately, Meg did not mention who it was that shot her, but the internet has been running with the idea that it was Mr Lanez. The Aquarian superstar took to Instagram in a very emotional live video and described the incident as the "worst experience of her life." Yet one of the saddest things about this whole situation, is how Meg has been mocked and the internet has made jokes out of her pain.
I think, in this society, it is very easy to forget that celebrities are just people... The Internet has made it so easy, and welcoming even, to place these people om a pedestal and target them with comments we would not dare say to make to someone's face. Celebrity culture is something that we often get swept up in, with our wide-range of opinions, but these are real human beings with real feelings. It should not be so difficult to express compassion towards someone whose safety has been threatened, yet many people found it acceptable to trivialise her grief.
Personally, this situation really highlighted how violence towards women can always be turned into a debate, or even justified. Many tweets surfaced claiming Meg was directly involved in the attack and so somehow brought this onto herself, which led to Meg having to clarify on Instagram that she was intentionally targeted in this attack and was never arrested by the police. Why, in stories of abuse, is the blame always directed at the victim? Why must we determine whether we can diminish the story of the victim?
I also believe Meg was right to tweet that there is very little protection for black women within this society, particularly for dark-skin black women. Online, Meg was repeatedly compared to a man and described as "mannish," which somehow equated to the idea that Meg would consequently be fine and recover quickly. In what world is this an acceptable statement to express after someone has been abused? Many black women face this disgusting stereotype of being "manly" and "aggressive" and are constantly portrayed as big, strong, powerful women, but this stereotype is actually so harmful and needs to be broken. Yes, black women are all of these things but that is not all they are; black women suffer; black women have pain and black women need help too. The idea that dark-skin women are these unbreakable pillars to the community is an idea that needs dismantling immediately.
As a society, we need to do a better job of protecting and respecting women - in particular, women that have been abused and women who are not white.
Now, if it turns out Tory did not shoot Meg then I will happily edit this post so that I do not get sued for defamation, but if he did, then Mr Lanez should think twice before making his next moves.
PSA: Stream the Savage Remix featuring Beyoncé to support beautiful black women!
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