Megan Thee Stallion Wins Defamation Suit Against Blogger

A Florida jury has ruled that an online commentator defamed and harassed Megan Thee Stallion, holding blogger Milagro Cooper legally responsible for a campaign targeting the rapper. Cooper, who operates under the name Milagro Gramz, engaged in this conduct in the aftermath of the 2020 incident where Megan was shot by fellow musician Tory Lanez. The court found her actions constituted unlawful harassment, delivering a significant legal win for the artist.

Initially awarding $75,000 in damages, the jury saw the sum later adjusted to $59,000 by U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga. The 2024 lawsuit characterized Cooper as a "paid surrogate" for the now-imprisoned Tory Lanez, alleging a concerted effort to damage Megan's credibility following her crucial testimony at his trial. Lanez, legally named Daystar Peterson, is serving a 10-year sentence for felony charges connected to the shooting. Legal experts note that while such coordinated post-conviction smear attempts are rare, they pose a serious threat to judicial finality and can inflict renewed psychological harm on victims. As one legal analyst commented, "This case underscores how the digital arena can be weaponized to extend a legal vendetta, forcing victims to continually defend their truth long after a verdict is read."

Central to the case was Cooper's role in disseminating a sexually explicit AI-generated deepfake video of Megan across social platforms. Testifying to its profound emotional toll, Megan described feeling "defeated" by the push to legitimize the fabricated material. "The embarrassment is one thing," she stated, "but the harm comes from knowing people are watching something intimate that was never you, yet they believe it is." This aspect of the lawsuit spotlights the escalating legal battles over malicious AI-generated content, an issue becoming increasingly urgent for celebrities and ordinary citizens subjected to digital forgery and harassment.

The verdict strengthens the legal safeguards around Megan Thee Stallion, a three-time Grammy winner celebrated for hits like "Savage" and "Body." It follows a separate legal action months earlier where she secured a five-year restraining order against Tory Lanez himself. Despite his incarceration, Megan testified to persistent fear, expressing acute anxiety about his eventual release in a video statement to the court: "I feel like maybe he’ll shoot me again, and maybe this time I won’t make it." This series of legal proceedings highlights the prolonged struggle for safety and accountability that can follow a violent crime, often playing out for years both in courtrooms and across the internet.