Tory Lanez refuses to “apologize for the costs I’m being wrongfully convicted of” just two days after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion within the feet in 2020.
“I even have never let a tough time intimidate me. I won’t ever never let no jail time eliminate me,” the “Say It” rapper, 31, began a lengthy Instagram statement Thursday.
“No matter how they struggle to spin my words, I even have all the time maintained my innocence and I all the time will.”
He continued: “This week in court I took responsibility for all verbal and intimate moments that I shared with the parties involved… that’s it.”
“Under no circumstances shape or form was I apologizing for the costs I’m being wrongfully convicted of. I remain on the stance that I refuse to apologize for something that I didn’t do,” Lanez added.
The “What’s Poppin” rapper continued that he’s all the time “faced adversity my whole life” and that his sentence is “nothing but one other 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 stated before signing off with a “thanks” to his supporters.
The Post has contacted reps for Lanez and Megan, 28, for comment.
Lanez fired a gun in the back of Megan’s feet and shouted for her to bounce in an argument that ensued after a celebration at Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home on July 12, 2020.
He was convicted in December of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
He spoke for several minutes at his sentencing hearing Tuesday, calling Megan “someone I still take care of dearly to today.”
“We each lost our moms. We’d sit there and drink, and drink until we got numb,” Lanez said of Megan, who needed to have surgery to remove bullet fragments.
“The Color Violet” rapper, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, also addressed his behavior within the aftermath of the shooting: “I said some very immature things that I shouldn’t have said. I revealed some secrets I shouldn’t have revealed.”
“If I could turn back the series of events that night and alter them, I might,” Lanez continued. “The victim was my friend. The victim is someone I still take care of to today.”
He added, “All the pieces I did unsuitable that night, I take full responsibility for.”
Lanez’s legal team said Tuesday they plan to appeal the sentence and conviction and can try and have the Canadian rapper released on bail as their requests play out. Prosecutors had sought a 13-year sentence.
“We’re extremely disenchanted,” Lanez’s lead attorney, Jose Baez, said outside the courthouse Tuesday. “I even have seen vehicular homicide and other cases where there’s death, and the defendant still gets lower than 10 years.”
Baez called the sentence “really just one other example of somebody being punished for his or her celebrity status and someone being utilized to set an example. And he’s not an example. He’s a human being.”
At a press conference after the sentencing, LA District Attorney George Gascón read a part of a press release from Megan, whose real name is Megan Pete.
“Daily, I feel of others the world over, or victims of violence, and survivors,” her statement said. “It is actually probably the most powerless feeling, especially if you query whether the justice system can truly protect you.”
Megan’s message continued: “Fortunately, the district attorney’s office fought for me. I’m incredibly grateful to them and the jury for the eye to the evidence and siding with the reality.
”But when it might probably occur to me, imagine those that lack the resources and support systems,” she concluded.
District Attorney Kathy Ta also read Megan’s statement in court Monday. The “Sweetest Pie” rapper said she wouldn’t appear on the proceedings to guard her mental health.
The three-time Grammy winner reported experiencing depression after Lanez shot her attributable to “public humiliation,” because of disparaging remarks by naysayers who “treated my trauma like a running joke.”
“He [Lanez] not only shot me, he made a mockery of my trauma. He tried to position himself as a victim and got down to destroy my character and my soul,” Megan wrote in her statement.
“He lied to anyone that may listen and paid bloggers to disseminate false information in regards to the case on social media. He released music videos and songs to break my character and proceed his crusade.”
Megan further claimed: “At first, he tried to disclaim the shooting ever happened. Then, he attempted to position the blame on my former best friend. In his tantrum of lies, he’s blamed the system, blamed the press and, as of late, he’s using his childhood trauma to shield himself and avoid culpability.”
With Post wires
