16 September 2020
Newsdesk
Janelle Monae felt "sick" after seeing people try to blame {Megan Thee Stallion] following her shooting in July.
The Savage hitmaker had to undergo surgery after suffering gunshot wounds to her feet, an injury she blamed on fellow rapper Tory Lanez after they attended a party in the Hollywood Hills, with the incident now being investigated by police.
Immediately after the shooting, when early reports revealed Megan's hospitalisation, she took to Instagram to deny false rumours blaming her for what happened, noting she "didn't deserve to get shot".
Janelle spoke about her reaction to the incident on the Jemele Hill is Unbothered podcast, saying that systemic racism shouldn't mean black men aren't held accountable when allegations of violence towards women emerge.
"Listen, we can be better than that. I want you to be better than that," she said. "And I, like you, I'm sick to my stomach around the victim-blaming that was going on around Meg the Stallion, and she is strong. But she should not have to go through that. She should not have to prove to people who thought that she was lying, that she wasn't lying."
After calling for a "commitment" from those who benefit from the patriarchy to speak up against violence towards women, she added: "Violence under any kind should be condemned. It's not a gender issue. It needs to be condemned. And I think that when you, when we're talking about black women, though, we are disproportionately affected by it."
Comparing it to the fight against racism, she continued: "So my thing is to say in the same way that we ask white people to like to abolish systemic racism and oppression, I'm asking those, and this is black men included, if you are doing this, then I'm not talking to you.
"But if you benefit from this white patriarchal system in a way that we don't, I'm asking you to have conversations with more men about how you can be better supported, how you can show up better for black women and other folks who may not be as privileged as you are in this world."
Monae's new thriller Antebellum, in which her character is transported back to the time of slavery, debuts on video on demand platforms on Friday.
