Joe Budden Claims Megan Thee Stallion Conspired to Frame Tory Lanez: ‘She’s a Pawn’

Joe Budden has stirred controversy by expressing his disbelief that Tory Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion, even suggesting there was a conspiracy to frame Lanez. On his podcast, Budden voiced his skepticism about Megan’s accusation that Lanez fired shots at her feet during a July 2020 altercation involving her friend Kelsey Harris.

Budden questioned the plausibility of the incident, stating,

“All of them involved have reason to lie, so I’m not really going with, who do I trust more? I’m just going with… thoughts. What is more likely? Tory leaves the studio, goes to Kylie Jenner’s house, is having a blast, thinking he’s about to get the foursome popping off. Meg gets jealous — we know how they got in the car. What is more likely? That Tory was so angered in that car that he took Kelsey’s gun and shot her?”

He then suggested it was more likely that Harris, not Tory, shot Megan.

“Listen, we know whose gun it was,” Budden continued. “So he took her gun and shot [Megan]. Why? Why was he so mad… Y’all think a man is just shooting a girl for no reason? Give me a reason! ‘Cause the only reason we got was, ‘I [Megan] said that I have more number ones than him.’ Or what’s more believable? Two people that were running around as best friends, new in the music industry, one gets COVID, comes back, finds out her best friend is sleeping with the guy she’s involved with. And this guy was just about to get some Kylie Jenner… That guy is shooting? No, that guy wants to go back!”

Budden further insinuated a broader conspiracy involving powerful figures aiming to set up Lanez, with Megan being a “pawn” in the scheme. “I think it’s above her. I don’t think she made it up. She’s a mere pawn in this,” he said. “This play is greater than her. She didn’t make nothing up. I ain’t gonna say who I think made it up… but it wasn’t her. People out there know who it is. I know exactly who it is, I know how that gun got there, I know whose gun it was.”

Budden also shared a private conversation with Harris, revealing: “I thought it was weird that the last time we talked about this, Kelsey jumped into my DMs saying, ‘Aye, don’t talk about this no more.’ Why? You got immunity. It’s odd.”

In response, Harris wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “It’s easy to get lost in the media, but let’s remember MY NAME was cleared by both parties involved. Stay tuned.”

Joe Budden has been vocal about his dislike for Megan Thee Stallion, often doubting her claims. In 2022, he stated on his podcast, “I got some theories. But what I can say is I’m finished with these people and I don’t like that girl. I can’t. Personally, I’ve seen this woman do horrible things to some really great people that I have longstanding relationships with here in this industry, so I’m biased. You can’t just treat my friends and people I care about and people I’ve seen in this game for 15 years a certain way.”

However, Budden later apologized to Megan, saying, “The people that love her, her handlers, her team, the people that have to support her through what has to be an exhausting trial, I listened back. I got a few phone calls from women that I love and appreciate and admire.” He added, “I’m apologizing for the careless manner in which I joked about her mental health… That’s not funny, because whether you believe her or don’t believe her, can you afford to be wrong? The answer is no.”

Tory Lanez’s appeal against his conviction and 10-year prison sentence faced a setback recently when California’s Attorney General’s Office ruled that a statement from his driver, Jauquan Smith, could not be classified as new evidence since Lanez’s legal team was already aware of the information. Smith had claimed in an affidavit that he saw Harris holding a gun before the shooting but did not testify at the trial.

Megan has consistently stated that Harris was not the shooter.