Megan Thee Stallion gives emotional testimony in federal defamation trial against blogger

Megan Thee Stallion took the witness stand at a federal courthouse in Miami on Thursday in connection with a defamation lawsuit that the hip-hop star filed in October 2024 against Milagro Cooper, a social media commentator and blogger known as Milagro Gramz.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified that Cooper participated in a targeted and coordinated social media campaign to harass, intimidate and defame her, in concert with rapper Tory Lanez, who was convicted of shooting and injuring Pete in a July 2020 incident.

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

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

“I felt like nobody cared that I was shot,” Pete said. “I know everyone was making jokes about it.”

The jury on Thursday was shown X-ray photos of Pete’s feet with bullet fragments after the shooting.

During an emotional moment on the stand, Pete said that the social media posts promoted by Cooper’s accounts casting doubt about her story and attacking her character led her to experience severe emotional distress.

“There was a time that I genuinely didn’t care if I lived or died,” she said. “I felt like no way I mattered. No way I should even be living. I don’t want to be here. I’m tired of waking up. I just wanted to die. I was so tired of being alive.”

Asked how she was doing, Pete said that she was having an “OK” day as she testified because she got to tell her side of the story and said she hopes that something good comes out of it.

“I’m not going to kill myself because I’m not going to give them what they’re looking for,” Pete said, recounting how she found a way to empower herself amid the firestorm.

She said she hopes telling her story “can inspire other women to want to tell their truth.”