Tory Lanez is calling “fake news.”
The rapper’s team hit up Instagram on Thursday to disparage Meghann Cuniff, a longtime journalist who is covering the Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial. The IG Stories post described Cuniff’s reporting as “negative and extremely biased,” and urged followers to dismiss her reportage surrounding Lanez's legal battle.
“With all due respect…Please disregard anything Meghann Cuniff reports on Tory Lanez. Her objective, perspective/narrative has always been negative and extremely biased towards him … if there is an update on tory it will come from this page first. If it doesn’t come from this page it’s not real,” read the post, which was credited to “The Umbrella."
Meghann Cuniff addressed the statement in a Thursday afternoon tweet, simply writing, “Wish he’d @’d me or at least spelled my name correctly 😭😭.”
Cuniff has covered legal affairs for outlets across the country, including the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the Spokesman-Review, and the Orange County Register. She currently publishes her work on Legal Affairs and Trials, a Substack page that includes reports on high-profile criminal cases, including Danny Masterson’s rape trial and Mark Ridley-Thomas’s corruption case.
It’s unclear what prompted the accusatory statement, as Lanez’s team failed to point out examples of Cuniff’s so-called “biased” reporting. However, the allegations came just a day after Cuniff published an article titled "New attorney plans to seek Tory Lanez’s release from jail over Megan Thee Stallion shooting." The story was heavily focused on Ronda Renee Dixon, an attorney who is seeking to represent Lanez as he awaits his sentencing. According to the article, a judge ultimately rejected Dixon’s motion to join the case.
“These guys are just taking advantage of [Lanez],” Dixon told Cuniff. “They’ve had him sign powers of attorneys. They’re acting on his behalf. … They’re not really asking him what he wants.”
The attorney claimed she had recently met with Lanez, and described him as “totally despondent.” “His eyes were black,” Dixon said. “He told me he wanted to go to state prison. I said, ‘You want to go to state prison? Why?’ He said, ‘At least I’ll be able to go out in the yard and talk to people. That upset me. I don’t think he’s guilty.”
It was nearly seven months ago that Lanez was found guilty of assaulting Megan Thee Stallion in the summer of 2020. The incident allegedly took place after the two got into a heated argument in the Hollywood Hills. Prosecutors said Lanez opened fire on Megan once she exited a vehicle they were riding in. The Houston superstar rapper suffered multiple foot wounds.
Lanez was ultimately convicted of three charges: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a concealed and loaded firearm in a vehicle, and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for next month.
