In a blistering recorded interview played in open court on Friday (December 16), kelsey harrisMegan Thee Stallion’s former friend and assistant has claimed multiple times that she saw Tory Lanez shoot the “Savage” rapper and then bribed him and Harris to keep quiet – according to her court testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. refuted.
judge david herriford Prosecutors were allowed to play the full 80-minute recording in front of the jury on the fifth day of the blockbuster trial, which charged Lenz with shooting Megan in the leg on July 12, 2020. The interview – clips from which were previously played in court during Harris’ two-day stint on the witness stand – was conducted on September 14, 2022 in the presence of Deputy District Attorney cathy ta And Alexander Bottsenior investigator jody little and husband of Harris darren smithPresent via phone with two of Harris’ attorneys.
In the recording, Harris can be heard telling prosecutors that an argument between Megan and Lenz began during the get-together. Kylie Jennerhome on the night of July 12, 2020, and proceeded on the car ride home, ending with Tory shooting at Megan five times from the passenger side window of an SUV driven by Lenz’s security guard. joquan smith, “The way Tory was swinging the gun … definitely in her direction,” recalled Harris, who claimed that Lenz had shot her before allegedly pointing the gun at Megan later that night. Threatened to “shoot”.
Harris – who befriended Megan in college before becoming her assistant in 2019 – turned emotional in the immediate aftermath of the gunfight, describing how she “immediately” turned to Megan to find “blood” on her friend. ran. “So in my head, [Megan] was shot,” she said.
According to Harris, Lenz then exited the vehicle and began walking toward Megan, at which point Harris said he placed himself between them—leading Lenz to “physically assault” her with his hands. She then claimed that after taking Lenz back to the car to “distract” her from Megan, he began “pulling” her hair and neck. “That’s when I started to fear for my life,” she continued.
Harris, crying at this point in the recording, claimed that the violence subsided after Megan got back in the car. Once they got back in the vehicle and continued driving — with Megan’s bloodied leg — Harris said Megan then asked her to call Megan’s manager. t farris, Harris additionally claimed that he sent a text message to Meghan’s security guard Justin Addison which read, “Help. 911. Torey shot Meg, along with a Facebook message to her mother pleading for help. “I was really hurt. [emotionally]Harris continued, “I didn’t know I had injuries [from the attack],
Harris said that once police vehicles pulled the car over, Lenz quickly began bribing the two women. “Please don’t say anything… I’m going to make a big deal… I’ll give each of you $1 million,” he claimed to have told them. After the police became involved – and Megan’s manager Farris arrived on the scene – Harris, Megan and Lenz were separated, Megan going to Cedars-Sinai’s emergency room and Harris going to the police station, where she was injured in her legs. His blood-stained pictures were (shown in court on Wednesday) taken.
Later in the recording, Harris can be heard claiming that Lenz tried to bribe him again shortly after the incident. After showing up at her hotel with Smith and another man, she said, Lenz apologized and asked Harris if she wanted to work for him, or to have him as her attorney. ,[I didn’t know] If that was their way of trying to get paid,” she said. She said that after telling Megan that she had met Lanez, the “WAP” rapper was serious, allegedly telling Harris: “He’s just trying to play you.”
Harris’ interview with prosecutors in September was very different from her time on the stand. During her two days of court testimony, Harris was evasive with prosecutors and defense attorneys, and even dismissed claims she made in September that Lenz sexually assaulted her on July 12. threatened to shoot her, stating that what she said was not “accurate”. There were things I wasn’t truthful about to protect myself.” She did not go into more detail about who she was protecting from, nor what parts of the interview were less than “100% true”.
During the September interview as well as his time in court, Harris said that he has not seen Megan in person since the incident, noting that the last time Megan called to pay for her housing was after the incident. was offered. Harris also testified that Megan’s team cut off contact with him in the wake of the shooting. As she did in court, Harris can also be heard in the recording expressing anger towards Megan, saying that the rapper “never protected her” and even suggesting that Harris took money from Lanez during an Instagram Live session. “I’m upset that he didn’t clear my name,” she said.
On Tuesday, Megan testified that the fight leading up to the July 12 shooting was caused by Lenz’s sexual relationship with both women, as well as derogatory comments she made about the state of Lenz’s career. She claimed that after getting out of the car, “I started to walk away and I heard Tory yell, ‘Dance, bi-!'” before the singer drove off. Although she initially denied to police officers that she had been shot, three days later (July 15, 2020) in an Instagram post she confirmed that she had been shot and had undergone surgery to remove the bullets. In an Instagram Live session on August 20, 2020, she named Lanez as her attacker.
Lenz currently faces three felony charges: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence, the latter of which was added to the list of charges ahead of the trial last week. If convicted on all three counts, he faces up to 22 years in prison.
Testing will resume on Monday (December 19).
Update: This article was updated on December 16 at 9:00 p.m. EST to include additional details about Harris’ conversation with Megan after meeting Lenz, as well as the way Megan treated her after the shooting. did, her feelings about it were included as well.,
