What The Hell America!

Since President Donald Trump reentered the White House, politicians have opened the floodgates on conspiracy theories and unfounded claims against public figures, ranging from a fumbled release of documents surrounding victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein to hearings about the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

Now, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, has joined calls to free Tory Lanez, a Canadian rapper who was sentenced to prison after a 2020 altercation with rapper Megan Thee Stallion. The case itself has been scrutinized by online critics — despite Lanez’s conviction — who claimed Megan Thee Stallion’s testimony was fabricated, that powerful music executives have tried to orchestrate a “cover-up” and that the DNA evidence linking Lanez to a gun was inadmissible or flawed.

While Luna posted what she called evidence of Lanez’s innocence, Megan Thee Stallion’s team pushed back — and there’s no indication prosecutors are reopening the case. Lanez’s trial highlighted how often Black women who seek justice are doubted, by both the legal system and society. Luna’s attempt to draw attention to the case and assert that Lanez was wrongly convicted represents both a doubling down on that dynamic and an indication of how pop culture and politics combine in online spaces full of misinformation. 

As a member of the Oversight Committee, the House’s powerful main investigative branch, Luna told NewsNation this week that she had come across new DNA evidence that would disprove Lanez’s involvement and Ring camera footage that shows the case as “he-said-she-said.”

After receiving a tip from Amber Rose — a media personality who has strengthened her connections with the Republican Party in the past year, including speaking at their nominating convention — Luna said she has been working with members of the California delegation, including Democrats, to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to pardon Lanez.

“[This was] pretty egregious, the way this was handled — I think it was largely driven by headlines,” Luna told NewsNation during an interview. “Obviously, domestic violence I take very seriously, but I also take very seriously the fact that I do believe, based on the evidence that I’ve seen, that Tory’s innocent.”

Police arrested Lanez during a traffic stop on July 12, 2020, after receiving reports of gunfire from a group leaving celebrity Kylie Jenner’s Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles. At the time, Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, was taken to the hospital for a foot injury — one she initially told police was the result of stepping on broken glass and later said was actually the result of having been shot in the foot by Lanez. The surgeon who treated Megan Thee Stallion testified to seeing gunshot wounds in her foot, as well as seeing bullet fragments on X-ray imaging. 

Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August 2023 after a jury found him guilty of assault with a firearm, illegal possession and negligent discharge of the weapon. As a Canadian citizen, Lanez could also face deportation from the United States after serving his sentence. The judge had previously denied a request for a retrial.

But almost two years later, persistent theories and conspiracies, combined with doubts about evidence in the now-closed court case, continue to circulate online. Podcasters and social media users have tried to cast doubt on the fact that Megan Thee Stallion was actually shot for years, which prosecutors called a “weaponized information” campaign orchestrated by Lanez and his team. Other Black men celebrities currently facing claims of assault, abuse or trafficking — including producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, singer Chris Brown and rapper DDG — have seen similar waves of support across social media this week in the face of allegations against them.

Lanez’s case has reemerged after the artist was stabbed 14 times while in prison earlier this month.

Christine Scartz, director of the Family Justice Clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, said that while it’s good for people with influence, like lawmakers, to call attention to possible miscarriages of justice, she worries about what the attention on this case means for Megan Thee Stallion and other Black women.

“For Black women victims of violence, it’s not just a struggle for individual justice, but it’s a struggle against all these other competing priorities that people who either are not involved in the case directly or who don’t know exactly what it is they’re talking about or how the system works,” Scartz said. “You have to struggle against all these competing priorities for other people who are then going to shade you when you’re just looking for individual justice.”

Luna had never posted about his case on her official X account until May 19, when she started circulating a petition from the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety, a conservative effort run by TV host and Fox political analyst Gianno Caldwell. Attorney General Pam Bondi; Rep. Burgess Owens, a Black Utah Republican; and media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky are all on the Caldwell Institute’s board. Luna and Caldwell did not respond to requests for comment.

Luna posted that she had “compelling evidence” proving Lanez’s innocence, claiming that the singer had not received due process. She then posted a thread, tagging Newsom, listing concerns she had with the trial process, citing the First, Sixth and Fourteenth amendments. On Thursday, she posted another thread, claiming a new affidavit from a bodyguard “shatters the original narrative used to convict” Lanez.

“This guy’s an innocently incarcerated man,” Luna told a reporter Wednesday. “When the evidence was brought forward and presented to me, I was pretty baffled that he was even charged after what I saw.” 

She also said she spoke with the rapper Tuesday, saying that once Lanez gets a pardon — which Luna said she is confident will happen — he will work on prison reform.

On Thursday, Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyers released a 31-page report seeking to dismantle “unsworn rumors being spread as fact,” dismissing the circulating Ring camera footage and claims about DNA evidence.

“Despite Mr. Lanez being convicted at trial by overwhelming evidence (that included his own admission of his guilt), he and his team — flanked by any ignorant person they can find — have pushed whatever misleading narrative they can,” said Alex Spiro, Megan Thee Stallion’s lawyer, who headed the report.