On Friday evening, almost two years after Tory Lanez was convicted of shooting Megan Thee Stallion, posts on X (formerly Twitter) blared stunning “news” about the case: that a California appeals court had “found Tory Lanez to be innocent” and would “reinvestigate” the case to see if he was “unfairly prosecuted.”
The claims, which appear to have first been posted by an account called Akademiks TV run by the popular blogger and podcaster DJ Akademiks, came with a screenshot of an official-looking document signed by three judges. Numerous commenters celebrated that the singer had seemingly been vindicated.
Just one problem: That’s not at all what happened.
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Instead, the appeals court merely issued a procedural order acknowledging that it had received a new petition from Lanez’s legal team and would consider it alongside his other appeals. That’s all that occurred – something that was obvious to anyone who actually read the document. Lanez challenges to the conviction remains pending, and they continue to face long odds for success.
With a false story circulating, the internet quickly swung into gear. Meghann Cuniff, a popular legal journalist who has closely covered the Lanez case, blasted the posts for “spreading lies.” The X account Bad Legal Takes, which highlights examples of misinformed legal reasoning, featured an image of the Akademiks post. X’s own platform later added “community notes” to some versions, stating that such claims were false.
But as with many instances of misinformation on the modern internet, some damage was likely already done. Though Akademiks TV eventually deleted its post, it was likely seen by thousands. A later post from an account called Daily Loud, featuring the same claim and the same screenshot, is still live on the site as of Tuesday and has currently racked up 5.1 million views.
In an interview with Billboard on Monday, Megan Thee Stallion’s attorney Alex Spiro sharply criticized the social media accounts that shared the story, saying they “make a living out of complete nonsense” and that “they’re going to face consequences.”
“This appeal when it is eventually heard will be denied, so all [Lanez] can do is gaslight and spin off these nonsense bloggers from inside custody, where he will remain,” Spiro said. “We are taking legal action. Stay tuned.”
Spiro declined to comment on who exactly would face legal action or what such action would look like. Akademiks TV did not immediately return a direct message on X seeking comment.
Lanez (Daystar Peterson) was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts over the violent 2020 incident, in which he shot at the feet of Megan (real name Megan Pete) during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. According to prosecutors, when Megan got out of the vehicle and began walking away, Lanez shouted “Dance, bitch!” and fired a gun at her feet. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Lanez has appealed his convictions to California’s Court of Appeal, arguing that the judge allowed improper testimony and evidence, resulting in a “a miscarriage of justice.” He’s also filed a so-called petition for writ of habeas corpus, a more drastic legal method for challenging a criminal conviction.
Last week’s false news stories came after Lanez filed yet another habeas corpus petition on Oct. 23. According to a copy of the filing obtained by Billboard, Lanez’s lawyers say the gun used in the shooting and bullet fragments that doctors removed from Megan’s foot have not been made available to him, meaning he “does not have the ability to conduct a full investigation.”
On Monday, Spiro directly rebutted the claims made in the new petition, saying he had confirmed with prosecutors that Lanez’s team was still able to access the evidence. “The statement that the gun and magazine are not available for testing is a complete and demonstrable lie,” Spiro said. “They are sitting there and available any time.”
After Lanez’s lawyers filed the new petition, the appeals court issued a brief order on Friday alerting the parties that it had “read and considered the petition” and that the new habeas challenge would be “considered together” along with the earlier appeals. Such a scheduling order was unremarkable, and was in no way a substantive ruling on the merits of Lanez’s arguments.
It was a screenshot of this order that was included in the false stories that circulated on social media. This was despite the fact that the order made no mention of “innocence,” and even expressly ordered prosecutors to file their own response brief in the weeks ahead – another clear sign that it was a procedural order, not a decision on the case.
Part of the confusion might have stemmed from the way Lanez’s attorneys announced the order. In an Instagram post on Friday, his lawyers at the group Unite The People posted a screenshot of the order under a caption that said the appeals court had just “ACCEPTED TORY LANEZ ACTUAL INNOCENCE CLAIM!!!” That statement was seemingly a reference to the legal term “actual innocence,” a form of criminal defense that they advanced in their petition.
A short time after Unite The People’s post, the tweet from Akademiks TV claiming Lanez had been ruled “innocent” appeared on X, featuring the same image with a watermark reading “United The People Inc.” Lanez’s lawyers, Crystal Morgan and Michael Hayden, did not return a request for comment on Tuesday.
