Rapper Megan Thee Stallion made her debut on the “Saturday Night Live” stage with a powerful message. The 25 year old also took her time to call out Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his decision in the Breonna Taylor case.
Halfway during her performance on Saturday, Oct. 3, sounds of gunshots rang out before Megan and her dancers paused as audio from Malcolm X’s 1962 speech “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?” played in the background.
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair?” he said in the audio. Then there was an audio clip of activist Tamika Mallory saying, “Daniel Cameron is no different than the sellout Negroes that sold our people into slavery.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, Cameron, the first Black person to hold the attorney general position in the state of Kentucky, announced that he and his office would not charge any of the three officers as being responsible in the shooting that led to Taylor’s death. The 26-year-old EMT was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers on March 13. The officers were at Taylor’s apartment on a no-knock search warrant, which actually was for her ex boyfriend who lives across town. Gunfire broke out after her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, reportedly fired a warning shot at officers in plainclothes that he believed were intruders. Taylor was asleep in her bed when she reportedly was shot five times.
During his press conference, Cameron also noted that officers Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly, two of the three officers who fired shots that night, “were justified in their acts and their conduct” because they were defending themselves.
Meanwhile, former Detective Brett Hankison was only charged with three counts of wanton endangerment because some of the shots he fired allegedly entered a nearby apartment, where three people were present. He later pleaded not guilty.
Before ending her performance, Megan called for the protection of Black men and women. “We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women. ‘Cause at the end of the day, we need our Black women,” she said. “We need to protect our Black men and stand up for our Black men because, at the end of the day, we’re tired of seeing hashtags of our Black men.”
In July, Megan shared publicly that she’d allegedly been shot in the foot by fellow rapper Tory Lanez; that case is still ongoing. Check out Megan’s ‘SNL’ performance below. This follows Megan’s October 2019 SNL appearance to perform with Chance the Rapper on his song “Home.”
