Megan Thee Stallion has returned to the courtroom, this time battling each Tory Lanez and blogger Milagro Gramz in her ongoing defamation lawsuit towards the pair. On Nov. 17, the 30-year-old rapper and Milagro appeared for the trial’s opening day. Milagro made her first testimony, although issues rapidly took a flip for Tory Lanez. In response to court docket filings obtained by TMZ, Lanez, 33, and his lawyer had been present in contempt of court docket.
Megan’s authorized crew tried to depose Tory on three separate events so he might present sworn testimony, however they are saying every try was derailed by his disruptive habits, most not too long ago on Nov. 15. Attorneys declare Tory stormed out of the deposition, hurling expletives at counsel. Additionally they allege his lawyer, Crystal Morgan, tried to teach him and failed to make sure he answered questions correctly, prompting the decide to carry her in contempt as effectively.
The decide issued a $20,000 nice towards Tory for obstructing Megan’s repeated deposition efforts, whereas Morgan was ordered to pay $5,000 for her position within the obstruction and for violating skilled requirements, TMZ famous.
Why has Megan Thee Stallion filed a defamation case towards Milagro Gramz and Tory Lanez?
This present defamation case stems from Megan’s 2024 lawsuit towards Milagro Gramz and Tory Lanez. Megan, whose authorized title is Megan Pete, filed go well with towards Milagro—born Milagro Cooper—accusing the blogger of accepting cash from Tory Lanez to orchestrate a smear marketing campaign towards her. The alleged marketing campaign started after Lanez’s 2020 arrest and subsequent conviction for taking pictures Megan. He’s at present serving a 10-year jail sentence for the incident.
In February, Billboard reported that Decide Altonaga allowed Megan’s case to maneuver ahead, citing Megan’s declare that Milagro violated Florida regulation by sharing a pornographic deepfake of the rapper. Milagro’s attorneys argued she merely “favored” the publish on X (previously Twitter), however the decide disagreed, discovering that her actions prolonged past merely liking the publish.
The decide wrote, in accordance with Billboard:
“By ‘liking’ an X.com publish that featured the deepfake video, the video was exhibited on defendant’s X.com account’s ‘Likes’ web page.” She added that: “Defendant additionally introduced the video ‘earlier than the general public’ when she allegedly directed viewers of her publish to click on on her ‘Likes’ web page the place the video had been archived.”
In response to TMZ, on Monday, Megan arrived in court docket with 4 attorneys and a large crew of authorized assistants, absolutely ready for trial. Milagro, accompanied by three attorneys, reportedly appeared tense and prevented eye contact with Megan all through the day. Authorized Affairs and Trials with Meghann Cuniff famous that Milagro testified Monday in a federal Miami courthouse that she merely “spoke” in regards to the pornographic deepfake circulating on-line of the rapper and didn’t share the video.
“Sadly, intercourse tapes are one thing of the general public curiosity. It got here up, and I spoke about it,” Cooper mentioned as the primary witness within the federal trial on Monday.
Her lawyer argued in opening statements that Milagro by no means posted or distributed the video, an vital level in Megan’s allegation that Milagro knowingly shared the doctored sexual picture. Megan’s go well with additionally contains two extra claims: defamation and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
Jurors then heard audio of Milagro telling followers she had favored the video and instructed them to “go to my likes.” Additionally they listened to her speculate about whether or not the video was genuine, saying: “This has received to be A.I. [artificial intelligence],” Milagro mentioned.
Throughout Megan’s lawyer, Marie Hayrapetian’s 20-minute opening assertion, the jury of 5 males and 4 girls seen the specific video. She apologized to the jurors earlier than taking part in it, warning, “I wish to acknowledge how disturbing that is… Think about having to sit down in court docket and watch this play for a room stuffed with strangers. That’s what we’re asking Megan to do in the present day, however you have to see it to grasp what Milagro Cooper promoted.”
Hayrapetiana additionally performed a recording of Milagro Gramz commenting about Megan, starting with: “On the finish of the day, a b–h mendacity on someone is low down. So consider what the f–ok you wish to consider.”
Milagro was additionally heard saying she wished to “slap” Megan, in accordance with Authorized Affairs and Trials With Meghann Cuniff.
“This case,” Hayrapetian argued, “is about somebody who wasn’t there that night time, the defendant, Milagro Cooper. She didn’t see the worry or the blood or the gun, however she noticed one thing else: Her shot had the highlight.” She added, “This case is about what Milagro Cooper did along with her shot on the highlight.”
Hayrapetiana added that jurors will hear how Milagro “turned attacking Megan into her model, how she coordinated with Tory Lanez and his crew, how she constructed her platform by tearing Megan down.”
Notably, simply final week, Tory misplaced his attraction in California for his 2020 conviction. He’ll proceed to serve his 10-year sentence for taking pictures Megan Thee Stallion. In June, a gag order was positioned on Milagro Gramz on the request of Megan to forestall the blogger from spreading misinformation about her.
RELATED: Conviction Confirmed: Courtroom Denies Tory Lanez’s Attraction In Megan Thee Stallion Capturing Case
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