Drake is speaking up for Torontoborn rapper Tory Lanez, boosting a Change.org petition demanding a gubernatorial pardon. Early Friday,
Drake posted “@torylanez come home soon” on his Instagram Story and linked to “Pardon Tory Lanez: Urge Governor Newsom to Correct a Deep Injustice.”
By midday the campaign had passed 170,000 signatures, showing how fast the call to free Lanez is spreading.
Lanez legal name Daystar Peterson has been serving a tenyear term for the July 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. Supporters argue the conviction relied on shaky forensic work and “politically motivated” decisions; prosecutors maintain a unanimous jury reached its verdict after a full trial. The petition says only California’s governor can rectify what backers label a “prosecutorial overreach.”
Violent Attack Inside Tehachapi Prison
Momentum for clemency surged after news broke that Lanez was attacked on May 12 at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi. Prison officials say he suffered fourteen stab wounds, collapsed lungs and required emergency ventilation. Despite the trauma, Lanez is reportedly alert, speaking and “deeply grateful to God” for surviving.
The alleged assailant, 41yearold Santino Casio already serving life for seconddegree murder has a long record of violence behind bars. Records show he received six extra years in 2008 for assault with a deadly weapon and two years in 2018 for manufacturing a weapon; authorities have not yet disclosed a motive.
While medical staff stabilize Lanez, legal allies are working to reopen the 2020 case. Civilrights nonprofit Unite the People says new witness testimony has emerged from Bradley James, a man who claims he was bodyguard to Megan’s former friend Kelsey Harris. James alleges he overheard Harris admit to firing the gun that night, not Lanez a statement Lanez’s lawyers hope will aid appeals or bolster the pardon push.
Whether this fresh testimony plus Drake’s megaphone sways Governor Newsom remains to be seen, but #PardonToryLanez is trending, and signatures keep climbing by the minute.
