In the week she was celebrating becoming the first female rapper to top the Rap Songwriters Chart – for her chart-topping single WAP with Cardi B – Megan Thee Stallion has had to defend herself against accusations of lying about gunshot wounds, inflicted on her when she was injured on the night of 12 July. 

The history-making singer, who has also broken the record for the largest ever streaming debut and the first female rap collaboration to debut at number one, had shown the gunshot wounds on her feet in a post on Instagram – which has now been deleted.

Online commenters had accused of her lying about her injuries, so she went to social media to set the record straight saying: “Lol what I have learned abt majority of the people on social media is y’all like to hear bad news before good news, a lie spreads quicker than the truth, and y’all really be believing the shit YALL make up… I got hit at the back of my feet because when I got shot I was WALKING AWAY FACING THE BACK. why would I lie abt getting shot? Why are y’all so upset that I don’t wanna be in the bed sad ? Why y’all upset that I can walk ?”

In an Instagram Live on Thursday night, the singer claimed that singer Tory Lanez shot her after they had left a party together in Hollywood. And went on to explain that the reason she didn’t tell the police was because she was worried about how the situation might escalate:

“You think I’m about to tell the police that we, us black people, that we’ve got a gun in the car,’ she said. ‘You want me to tell them we’ve got a gun in the car so they can shoot all of us up.”

Many social media users have defended the Texas-born singer for having to relive the trauma of what she described as “the worst experience of my life” just to be believed, for having to protect someone so they weren’t killed and for having to endure jokes and memes about the violence enacted on her.

Twitter user @SoulRevision has said:“This has me in TEARS. My god. Black women WHEW! We cant even fight for our own lives w/o feeling like we have to protect the lives of the people who commit acts of violence against us.”

While @DaShaunLH has said: “megan wasn’t only trying to save tory from the police. she was trying to save herself from being shot by police after being shot by a Black man she considered a friend. misogynoir and state violence: two sides of the same coin.”

Twitter user @_ShamGod said: “How many more pounds of flesh will we demand from Megan before enough is enough? How many more times will we insist on retraumatizing a young Black woman for our satisfaction?”

Crucial questions are being asked about the way society responds to Black women’s trauma. It’s a issue that desperately needs to continue to be addressed after the frenzy around Megan calms down. But hopefully Megan will now be able to focus on her recovery and historic musical achievements. 

Images: Getty, Instagram