On CBS MORNINGS, music megastar Megan Thee Stallion sat down exclusively with co-host Gayle King for her first TV interview addressing the 2020 shooting allegedly involving rapper Tory Lanez. Tory Lanez pleaded not guilty to assault and weapons charges related to the shooting. In addition, the three-time GRAMMY Award-winning rapper opened up about her late parents, her rise to fame and how her life has changed since the incident.
Watch Part 1: https://bit.ly/3KfpN1j
Watch Part 2: https://bit.ly/36JZNxr
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Excerpts:
– On her argument and alleged shooting incident with Tory Lanez:
MEGAN THEE STALLION: The arguing in the car is getting worse. And I don’t want to be in this car no more. ‘Cause I see it’s getting crazy. So, I get out of the car, and it’s like, everything happens so fast. And all I hear is this man screaming. And he said, “Dance, bitch.” And he started shooting. And I’m just like, “Oh my God.” Like, he shot a couple of times. And I – I was so scared –
GAYLE KING: So, is he in the car, shooting from the car, Megan? How is he –
MEGAN THEE STALLION: He is standing up over the window shooting. And I didn’t even want to move. I didn’t want to move too quick. ‘Cause I’m like, “Oh my God. If I take the wrong step, I don’t know if he’s going to shoot something that’s, like, super important. I don’t know if he could shoot me and kill me.”
GAYLE KING: Were you afraid for your life at that time?
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I was really scared ‘cause I had never been shot at before. And I looked down at my feet, ‘cause I wasn’t even – the adrenaline is pumping so hard, I’m not sure if he hit me. Like, I feel it, but I don’t understand what’s happening. So, I looked down at my feet. I’m like, “Oh, my God.” Like, I’m really bleeding. So, I drop down, and I crawl in somebody’s driveway. Like, I can’t believe he shot me.
GAYLE KING: And – and what is he saying – Tory Lanez saying after –
MEGAN THEE STALLION: He’s apologizing.
GAYLE KING: – he shot –
MEGAN THEE STALLION: “I’m so sorry. Please don’t tell nobody. I’ll give y’all a million dollars if y’all don’t say nothing.” And I’m like, “What are you talking about?” Like, “Why are you offering me money right now?” Help me. Like, and if you’re sorry, just help me.
– On her interaction with the police immediately after the alleged shooting incident with Tory Lanez:
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I don’t remember everything they said to me, but I remember them asking me, “What’s happening? What happened to you?” And I didn’t want them to kill any of us or shoot any of us. So, I just said, “I stepped on glass,” because I didn’t want –
GAYLE KING: But why did you say that? Why didn’t you say –
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I don’t –
GAYLE KING: – “He shot me”?
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I didn’t – for some reason, I was just trying to protect all of us because I didn’t want them to kill us. Like, even though this person just did this to me, my first reaction still was to try to save us. I didn’t want to see anybody die. So, I just said, “I stepped on glass.” So when I see people trying to use that against me, like trying to act like I’m lying, “Oh, she stepped on glass. She never got shot,” I’m the one who said I stepped on glass. I was lying to protect all of us. And sometimes I wish I really would have never said that.
GAYLE KING: You wish you would have just told the truth in that –
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I wish I would have told –
GAYLE KING: – moment.
MEGAN THEE STALLION: – the truth. But if it saved all of us from dying, then that’s just probably what it was meant.
– On how her life has changed since the alleged shooting incident:
MEGAN THEE STALLION: I feel like my anxiety is worse. I feel like my relationship with people is – has gotten very cold ‘cause I’m not as trusting as I used to be.
GAYLE KING: I was going to ask you, is it hard for you to trust people?
MEGAN THEE STALLION: Like, I got this wall and I don’t want to make any friends. And I’m trying to be as nice as I can to everybody. My – I don’t even prob – new people, I probably won’t even hold a conversation longer than 30 minutes ‘cause I feel like every time I’m talking, I’m on the verge of tears and I don’t want to have to explain to strangers why I’m crying.
– On when she knew she was good at rapping: “I feel like I wrote my first, like, rap when I was 7. And I didn’t tell my momma. Well, I did tell my momma the rap. But I didn’t tell her I wanted to be a rapper.”
– On the impact her parents had on her: “They were my best friends. It was only the three of us all the time … Like, when I went to school, I felt like it was a little different with me interacting with other kids. So, like, they would kind of pick on me a little bit. Like, I was so tall already. They just really let me know, like, you can’t ever let somebody else’s insecurities make you insecure.”
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