Did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion? The answer is in her words
“People are still questioning Megan Thee Stallion’s shooting story” says a headline I read. People who’ve seen the story are divided over what they think happened.
So, did Tory Lanez shoot Megan Thee Stallion? Let’s look at her words from this interview.
Interviewer: There was an argument in the car?
Megan: It was an argument because I was ready to go and everybody else wasn't ready to go. But that's like normal friend stuff. Like, we fuss about silly, silly stuff all the time. But (very long pause)
Megan starts by saying “it was an argument”, that means a singular one. This will be relevant later.
She explicitly says that the argument was her versus everyone else that was there (she was ready to go and “everybody else” wasn’t). Given that they left and were in the car, we assume Megan got her way over the other objectors.
She then says how “normal” this was. So often, when an unusual event has happened and someone wants to play down that event, they will tell us how “normal” it was. This is Megan’s first deceptive indicator, it doesn’t mean she’s lying, it doesn’t even suggest she’s deceiving right now. Indicators are a warning it could be happening, but we’d need to see a lot more indicators to decide that.
There’s another indication this isn’t like their usual arguments when she says, “we fuss about silly, silly, stuff all the time”. This is a very straightforward statement. I believe it. However, she’s talking in general here “all the time”, not about the specifics of this night.
When I’m analysing words for a post, I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to the pauses - they’re hard to get across in words! However, the pause at the end of this section is LONG.
She’s considering what to say next carefully.
Megan: I never put my hands on anybody. I never raised my voice too loud. Like this was one of them times where it was like, it shouldn't have got this crazy
This raises another flag for me. Why does Megan feel the need to tell us things that didn’t happen and add in things that she wasn’t asked about? She uses the word “never” twice, and “never” regularly comes up in deception. When someone uses the word “never” it can be because they want to give the impression something did not happen at all, but often that is not the case.
READ MORE: Never and other words uses in deception
Megan says that she never raised her voice “too loud”. That implies that she did raise her voice, but not to a level she considers “too loud”.
In saying “this was one of them times”, Megan is letting us know that this argument is not a one-off event. That it is only one of the times an argument like this has happened.
I’ve now got a few indications of deception. By analysing these words, I’m fairly certain that Megan is trying to downplay the argument that night and her part in it. To be clear, that does not mean she is to blame for any events that follow, it does mean she’s sensitive to the fact that she was at least partly responsible for the atmosphere that evening.
In Out
Interviewer: There was an argument and you Get out of the car right?
Megan: At that point the argument wasn't even with me like the argument was with the two people in the backseat so I asked the driver to pull the car over like I'm done with this and I should have stayed out of the car like I should have not got back in the car. And it was like ‘Megan just get back in the car we almost there like just get back in’. So I get back in the car. It's like it's getting worse.
Remember I said her use of “it” denoted a single argument? And remember Megan has explicitly said the argument was her against all the others?
In this section, it appears that Megan is trying to say that the argument now doesn’t involve her and is between people in the back seat. That doesn’t hang with her previous words, and the fact she says, “the argument is WITH the two people in the backseat” rather than between them suggest Megan was still involved.
Once more, it feels like she’s downplaying her role in the bust up that night. Furthermore, if you’re not involved in an argument, if it’s between other people, why would you want the car stopped so you could get out? It’s possible that could happen, but it’s not probable.
It’s highly likely that Megan is skipping some information in this section. One indicator of this is the use of “and… so” storytelling technique. She wants to sell us the reason she got back in the car, rather than tell us the reason. She says, “AND [they asked her to get back in] SO I get back in”.
Megan has been mostly in the past tense when telling this story which is what I’d expect of a truthful story, but she starts to slip into present tense here. It’s not proof she’s making things up, it’s a warning to pay careful attention to what is being said.
Dance
Interviewer: The arguing in the car?
Megan: The arguing in the car is getting worse and I don't want to be in this car no more like, because I see he’s getting crazy. So I get out the car and it's like, everything happens so fast. And all I hear is this man screaming is... he says ‘dance bitch’ and he starts shooting and I'm just like, ‘Oh my God’. Like he shot a couple of times.
And I was so scared
Now Megan has moved on from the argument to the shooting, her pattern of words has changed. I noted around the argument that she was downplaying her part and hiding things. Here she is much more straightforward in her words.
There’s one indication she’s hiding something using “and…so” again “AND I don’t want to be in this car… SO I get out the car”.
When discussing the shooting, she is very straightforward. There are plenty of places that she could use persuasive or convincing language to increase the severity or the drama, but she doesn’t.
She says, “he starts shooting” when she could have said something like “he just starts shooting straight at me”.
She says, “he shot a couple of times” when she could have said “he fired several shots at me”.
She says, “I was so scared” when she could have said “I have never been so scared in my entire life”.
Truthful people generally don’t feel the need to embellish their words, it’s the truth, and they feel that stands on its own. That is the case here.
This section is ALL in the present tense. I would be more reassured if it was past tense. However, when people (especially women) are recounting traumatic events, they can slip into present tense as the emotions of the event come back to them, and it feels like it’s happening now.
There are two more notes on this section. She called Tory Lanez, who was her close friend at the time, “this man” which shows there is now a huge distance between them. Also note that she said she felt “so scared”, this will come up later.
Scared
Interviewer: And was he in the car, shooting from the car?
Megan: He is standing up over the window. Shooting. And I didn't even want to move. I didn't want to move too quick. Like because I'm like, Oh my God, if I take the wrong step. I don't know if he can shoot something that's like super important. I don’t know if he could shoot me and kill me like
Once more, Megan is delivering this in the present tense, but it is still straightforward and to the point. This still appears truthful.
What is clear is that she isn't being shot AT. She is describing being shot around, and she is afraid of moving, in case she moves into the line of fire.
Interviewer: Are you afraid for your life at that time
Megan: I was really scared because I had never been shot at before. And I looked down at my feet, because 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 look down at my feet. I'm like, oh my god, like I'm really bleeding. So I like drop down and crawl in somebody's driveway.
Like I can’t believe he shot me
Megan has answered every question she has been asked so far, but she doesn’t answer this one. She’s asked “are you afraid for your life” and she doesn’t say “yes” or “no”. She repeats that she was “scared”. This again, makes me believe the shots weren’t directly at her, that however it went down, she wasn’t in fear for her life, but she was scared.
She does another “and…so” here - “AND I looked down… SO I.. drop down”. In her words, she looked at her feet twice. There’s some story telling going on here.
I believe her words around the shooting are truthful, shots were fired close to her, but she’s still withholding bits of information from us. I can’t say whether these are things she wants to conceal, whether she doesn’t think they are important, or whether she’s embarrassed about them.
What she does do, it talk about herself and her emotions. She doesn’t put any focus on Tory or try to persuade us that he was doing a bad thing. This is an indication of truthfulness.
Money
Interviewer: What does he do then?
Megan: He’s apologising saying I'm so sorry. Please don't tell nobody I give you all a million dollars if you all don’t say nothing I’m like what are you talking about like, what are you offering me money right now help me like and if you sorry, just help me like
This is another section that feels truthful. It’s straightforward and although it paints Tory in a bad light, there’s nothing added to the words to persuade us or convince us how bad he is. It’s factual.
Conclusion
Was Megan shot at by Tory Lanez? Yes. Megan’s words around the shooting have every indication of being truthful.
Is there more to the story? Yes. Megan is downplaying her part in the argument that preceded the shooting. This doesn’t mean she did something wrong, it simply means she would rather not say anything that will give people a chance to say “you deserved it”. No one deserves to be shot at.
Megan is also not telling everything about the shooting incident. While it was scary, from her words, I believe that something in the way it went down meant she wasn’t afraid she’d be shot at directly.
In the interview, Megan goes on to talk about the nature of her relationship with Tory Lanez. Were they dating? Was it sexual? Her answer is VERY revealing. If you’re not subscribed, then do it now to find out the analysis of that part!
