Megan Thee Stallion wins civil defamation trial against blogger

(NEW YORK) — A social media commentator and blogger was found liable on Monday in a defamation lawsuit filed by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in October 2024.

Milagro Cooper was found liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and promotion of an altered sexual depiction, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified that Cooper, who is known on social media as blogger Milagro Gramz, participated in a targeted and coordinated social media campaign to harass, intimidate and defame her.

Pete alleged Cooper was a “paid surrogate” for rapper Tory Lanez and spread lies on his behalf. Lanez was convicted of shooting and injuring Pete in a July 2020 incident.

“We’re thankful for the jury’s commitment to reinforcing the importance of truth, accountability and responsible commentary on social media,” Megan’s attorney, Mari Henderson, said in a statement. “This verdict sends a clear message that spreading dangerous misinformation carries significant consequences.”

Cooper is required to pay $75,000 in damages to Pete.

“I am not ecstatic, of course, you want things to go your way, but like I said, I respect the jury and what they decided, and I think I made out pretty good,” Cooper told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday, according to ABC affiliate WSVN.

“I am just happy to be moving forward; things will be handled. It wasn’t a multimillion-dollar verdict and I think that’s a blessing. God is good through and through,” Cooper added.

The lawsuit alleges that Cooper spread lies about Pete to punish her and attempt to discredit her after she publicly named Lanez as her shooter.

“She’s created a space for a lot of people to come speak negatively about me,” Pete said in trial testimony last month of Cooper, referencing social media posts where the blogger attacked Pete’s character, casting her as a liar and mentally unstable.

Cooper, who took the stand earlier in November, testified that as a blogger, she discussed the shooting on her social media accounts without the influence of Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.

But Cooper did acknowledge that she spoke with Peterson and was hoping to have him as a guest on her channel. She also testified that she received payments from Peterson’s father, Sonstar Peterson, but claimed they were for “personal” reasons like her children’s birthdays and “promotional” work.

The jury was shown social media posts in which Cooper claimed that Pete was not shot.

When asked if she believed that Pete was shot, Cooper said, “I can’t say she lied about that because I wasn’t there,” but then Cooper said that she believed that Pete was not shot and had stepped on glass — a claim that Pete made in her initial statement to police.

Peterson is not named as a defendant in Pete’s defamation lawsuit but was asked to give a deposition ahead of the trial. ABC News has reached out to his attorneys, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

Peterson, who chose not to take the witness stand during the 2022 trial, pleaded not guilty and his defense attorneys argued during the trial that he was not the shooter.

Peterson was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole on Aug. 8, 2023, after he was convicted in December 2022 of felony assault for shooting and injuring Pete in both of her feet in an incident that occurred in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020.

His legal team appealed his conviction, but it was upheld on Nov. 12 by a federal court in Los Angeles.