Tory Lanez is breaking his silence after being sentenced to 10 years following a guilty conviction for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. In a letter to his fans Thursday, the rapper said he “always will” maintain his innocence, adding, “I refuse to apologize for something that I didn’t do.”
“I have never let a hard time intimidate me. I will never never let no jail time eliminate me. Regardless of how they try to spin my words, I have always maintained my innocence and I always will,” he wrote. “This week in court I took responsibility for all verbal and intimate moments that I shared with the parties involved… that’s it.”
“In no way shape or form was I apologizing for the charges I’m being wrongfully convicted of. I remain on the stance that I refuse to apologize for something that I did not do,” he added.
The rapper was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday, nearly eight months after he was found guilty of shooting Megan Thee Stallion in her feet following an argument in July 2020.
In his statement, he continued by saying he’s always “faced adversity my whole life” and that this sentencing is “nothing but another moment where my back is against the wall and I refuse to stop fighting till I come out victorious.”
“Tough times don’t last, tough people do,” he wrote, before thanking his family and friends for their “continued support.”
Last December, Peterson was found guilty of first-degree assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and having a concealed firearm in a vehicle. The trial was highly publicized, with significant misinformation circulating online against Pete. The prosecution had previously asked for a 13-year sentence.
Lanez addressed the court on Tuesday before the judge handed down his decision, asking for leniency and for a sentence that would allow him to “prove” himself.
“I’m standing in front of you as a father to a six-year-old who needs me every step of the way,” Lanez told Judge David Herriford. “There’s been this misconception about me being this monster, not having remorse, that’s just not true,” he said. “That night, everyone was drunk, I said things I shouldn’t have said. The victim was my friend, I still care about her. We both lost mothers, we’d sit there and drink until we felt numb. Everything I did wrong that night I take responsibility for.”
While Megan Thee Stallion did not attend the sentencing hearings, she submitted a pre-written statement that prosecutors read in court on Monday afternoon.
“I struggle with being present. After everything that occurred I cannot bring myself back to being in the same room with Tory,” Megan wrote. “He paid bloggers to disseminate false information; he treated my trauma like a joke when I could’ve been dead. He blamed the system, he blamed the press, and as of late he is using his childhood trauma to justify his actions.”
When Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott gave his final words prior to the sentencing, he said watching the presentation “felt like we were here for a man of the year award.”
“We’re here for a heinous act of violence the defendant committed against a defenseless woman,” Bott said. “These are actions of a misogynist and a coward.”
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