Lawyers for Megan Thee Stallion say a close ally of Tory Lanez should be punished for “utterly disrespectful, uncivil and antagonistic” conduct during a recent deposition.
The request comes in a Thursday (Aug. 28) court motion as part of the federal defamation lawsuit brought by the Houston rapper (Megan Pete) against Milagro Gramz (Milagro Cooper), a gossip blogger who’s allegedly been spreading falsehoods about Lanez’s conviction for shooting Megan in 2020.
Related
Megan’s attorneys claim Lanez (Daystar Peterson), who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the shooting, is funneling directives to Gramz through his friend Ceasar McDowell. McDowell is the CEO of legal organization Unite the People, which is representing Lanez on appeal and has made dubious public statements about supposed new evidence that should exonerate the rapper.
McDowell was deposed in the Gramz lawsuit in July, and it didn’t go very well. Megan’s lawyers say McDowell answered nearly every question with “I don’t remember” or “I don’t know” and engaged in “immature and childlike conduct” — including rolling and smoking what appeared to be a “marijuana cigarette” during the deposition, lawyers say, calling one of the attorneys a “b—-” and even walking out mid-questioning.
“His conduct shocked the conscience and made a mockery of this court’s authority,” write the attorneys from powerhouse litigation firm Quinn Emanuel. “Because of his egregious behavior, the court should sanction Mr. McDowell.”
Megan’s legal team says McDowell’s behavior echoed that of Lanez himself, who was recently held in contempt for similarly evasive and disruptive conduct during his jailhouse deposition for the Gramz lawsuit.
The blogger DJ Akademiks (Livingston Allen), who has also spread misinformation about Lanez’s conviction, allegedly engaged in the same type of obstructive behavior at his own deposition too.
“All three men — Messrs. Peterson, McDowell and Allen — used the same strategy of systematic evasion when discovery threatened to expose their coordination,” write Megan’s attorneys. “Their synchronized obstruction reveals a coordinated effort to shield their defamation campaign from scrutiny and prevent Ms. Pete from obtaining evidence of the damages it caused.”
In an order on Friday (Aug. 29), Judge Lisette M. Reid declared that McDowell will have to be re-deposed under court supervision. The judge set a hearing next Friday (Sept. 5) to determine whether McDowell should face financial sanctions for his conduct at the original deposition.
McDowell did not immediately return a request for comment.
Related
Lanez was found guilty of three felony charges in 2022 for shooting Megan in the foot during a drunken argument after Kylie Jenner‘s pool party in 2022. The Canadian rapper maintains his innocence and has repeatedly sought to overturn the conviction.
An appellate court has already rejected two of Lanez’s challenges, unconvinced by his argument that the gun supposedly used in the crime went “missing.” Lanez’s attorneys argued against another one of his appeal efforts last week.
Meanwhile, Megan sued Gramz in 2024 for allegedly spreading falsehoods about the case online, including Lanez’s claim about the missing gun, as part of a “coordinated campaign” to undermine the guilty verdict and ruin Megan’s reputation.
Gramz denies any wrongdoing and says all of her social media activity is First Amendment-protected free speech. But a judge is allowing the case to move forward, and a trial is currently scheduled to be held in Miami this November.
