Can everyone leave Megan Thee Stallion alone?
Megan Thee Stallion hosted and performed for Saturday Night Live on Oct. 15 (Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images)
The Southern Black Girls & Women's Consortium wrote a letter of support on Nov. 11 to Megan Thee Stallion after she spoke out against fellow rapper Drake’s lyrics on his latest album, Her Loss.
Over the past few years, some of Megan’s peers have publicly dehumanized her by calling her a liar about being shot. There was a complete lack of sympathy towards her.
By publicly sharing this letter, it shows that influential Black women like her are on side. Even though it’s not discussed a lot in the media, over 40% of Black women will experience some sort of domestic violence. That high number is the reason why Black women needed to be taken seriously when put in these types of situations.
Megan, born Megan Pete, expressed her disdain towards Drake after he allegedly implied in his song “Circo Loco” that she lied about getting allegedly shot by rapper Tory Lanez, who’s set to go on trial on Nov. 28 for the 2020 shooting starting Dec. 12, according to an article by People.
“This b**** lie 'bout gettin' shots, but she still a stallion,” Drake said on the record, a new collaborative project with rapper 21 Savage.
The organization is a collective of Black women activists and philosophers who raise money for underfunded organizations to uplift Black girls in the South. California Congresswoman Maxine Waters was among those who signed the letter addressed to Megan.
The letter addressed to Megan recognized the pain she went through recently. “It must be said that our culture has failed you, one of its most brightly shining daughters,” the letter read. It also gave a brief history of how Black women have to navigate the world when it comes to domestic violence.
“An estimated one in three women worldwide has been the victim of sexual and/or domestic violence. Here in the United States, the numbers are higher for Black women, who also experience psychological abuse–such as humiliation, name-calling, and insults–at an increased rate,” the letter read.
Drake has not confirmed or denied that the lyric was about Megan but fans speculate that it was about her because it mentioned “stallion,” which is a part of her stage name.
Megan expressed her frustration in a series of tweets after the album dropped on Nov. 4, saying that people should “stop using her shooting for clout.”
“Ready to boycott bout shoes and clothes but dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y’all homeboys abused her,” Megan tweeted.
Megan is known for her hard-core lyrics, her confident attitude, and her popular monikertitle “Hot Girl.” She has three Grammys, including one for her hit song “Savage Remix” with Beyoncé. Despite her rapid success and healing from her grandmother’s and mother’s deaths, she stayed in school and recently graduated last December.
Despite these accomplishments, she has been inundated by constant questions about her integrity. For the past two years, people have made a joke out of her getting shot. She has a right to be angry and exhausted.
Gun violence is a prevalent problem in the rap community. Many rappers’ lives were cut short because of a bullet including— but not limited to— Nipsey Hussle, Pop Smoke, and King Von. Takeoff, a member of the popular rap trio Migos, was killed recently in Houston, Texas. Many prominent media figures called for action against gun violence because of his death. Megan should have gotten the same sympathy. But that was not the case.
The internet started making memes about her getting shot. People started questioning why she held out on saying it was Lanez at first.
In response, Megan said that she lied about who shot her because she was afraid of what the police would do to a Black man with a gun.
Since the shooting, Megan has advocated for Black women’s mental and physical health to be protected. In 2020, she used her performance on SNL to speak against violence against Black women such as Breonna Taylor.
Along with her new album, Traumazine, she released a website called “Bad B*tches Have Bad Days Too” filled with different mental health resources in September. The website provides links to resources like therapists that specialize in helping Black and LGBTQ people, and crisis hotlines.
Even though Megan has been strong enough to be an advocate publicly through her work and music, she has also been open about how social media has affected her mental health because of public reactions to tragic events in her life.
In her April 2022 CBS interview with Gayle King, Megan expressed that she feared for her life and talked about how she wanted to protect everyone.
"In some kind of way I became the villain," she said in the interview. "I wonder if it’s because of the way I look. Is it because I’m not light enough? Is it that I’m not white enough? Am I not the shape? The height? Because I’m not petite? Do I not seem like I’m worth being treated like a woman?”
After hosting and performing on SNL this year, Megan announced that she would be taking a break after her Los Angeles house got broken into. Since then (besides the Drake drama), she’s only posted promotional material online.
“Hotties i’m really sorry but after SNL I really gotta take a break I’m so tired, physically and emotionally,” she tweeted.
Megan has gone through so much in the last few years. Although people praise her for being strong, she can only take so much. With big names in the rap community looking down on her, it must be hard to stay positive and continue doing what she loves.
People need to leave Megan alone. Although she’s in the spotlight, she’s still one of many women who are gaslighted about the violence they go through.
When big organizations like the Southern Black Girls & Women's Consortium show support openly, it uplifts the problem and shows support to women who aren’t able to defend themselves like Megan.