Iggy Azalea ‘Never Intended to Publicly Comment’ on Tory Lanez Sentencing: ‘I Support Prison Reform. Period’
Iggy Azalea is clarifying reports that she has spoken out in support of rapper Tory Lanez (born Daystar Peterson) as the “Say It’ MC is awaiting sentencing in his felony assault and weapons case in connection with his attack on Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020. The Associated Press reported on Monday that Azalea was among the dozens of people who wrote the judge in the case, with her note asking that the sentence be “transformative, not life-destroying.”
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In a series of tweets, however, Azalea wrote, “I have not been in touch with tory for months, I have no reason to be, but I do wish him well,” adding, “I don’t ‘support’ anyone. the whole thing is full of oddities. My letter never mentioned anything in regard to what happened that night.”
Lanez’s sentencing will stretch into Tuesday (Aug. 8) and in a written statement, Megan described the ongoing trauma she has suffered since Lanez shot her in the feet after they left a Hollywood party together three years ago. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” Megan said in a statement read by Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
Megan, who testified during the trial, said she struggled with appearing in person to read the statement, but said she, “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again.”
In a further clarification, Azalea noted that she was told her statement would be for the judge’s eyes only. “Yet it’s being discussed in public? I never intended to publicly comment,” she wrote. “Iam not in support of throwing away ANY ones life if we can give reasonable punishments that are rehabilitative instead. I support prison reform. Period.”
Further explaining why she wrote a statement, Azalea said she was asked to share her “genuine experience and the type of punishment I think he deserves: I did.” In another tweet Azalea lamented that the statement became a topic of conversation on Monday because, in her words, “it’s not really an explosive revelation. Yes: he should be held accountable. No: the charges don’t warrant 5plus in prison.”
She argued that “most agree” with her position because “it’s a reasonable take.”
Though Megan did not come to court to make her statement in person, she asked Judge David Herriford not to take that as a sign of indifference and urged him to issue a stiff sentence to Lanez. Sentencing hearings typically take only a few hours, but Herriford allowed attorneys for each side to argue factors for Lanez’s potential sentence, allowing seven witnesses to give statement’s about the rapper’s charitable works, his childhood trauma and his status as a father to a six-year-old son.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to hand down a 13-year sentence to Lanez, 31, who was convicted of three felonies: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. Lanez’s lawyers have argued in a sentencing memo that he should get only probation and be released from jail to enter a residential substance abuse program.
See Azalea’s tweets below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
