Madonna claimed rapper Tory Lanez is using one of her songs illegally without her permission. She took to Lanez’s Instagram page to publicly accuse him, leading Madonna fans to bombard his Instagram page and demand he gives the “Material Girl” singer her due. Lanez has not commented on the allegation.
Back on Dec. 22, Lanez, 29, posted photos of himself from a recent photoshoot. “Read your messages, Tor,” Madonna wrote, TMZ reports. “Illegal usage of my song get into the groove.” Madonna was referring to her hit 1985 single “Into the Groove,” which was featured in Desperately Seeking Susan and on Madonna’s Like a Virgin album. It appears that Madonna believes Lanez’s single “Pluto’s Last Comet” rips off part of “Into the Groove,” particularly in the instrumental opening.
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Lanez has not publicly responded to Madonna, but many of her fans are already demanding he gives her credit. “Madonna did it better… you should pay her for trashing her song,” one person wrote. “Give the Queen her coins and credit tho, miss ma’am,” another commented. “How are you doing to take an ICONIC [Madonna] song and turn it into that trash?” one Madonna fan asked Lanez.
Lanez, who has a Grammy nomination for his 2016 hit “LUV,” has been in the news the past year for allegedly shooting rapper Megan Thee Stallion in July 2020 after an argument turned violent. Lanez used almost every song on his 2020 album Daystar to address the shooting and denied shooting Megan. In October 2020, Lanez was charged with felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. During the latest hearing earlier this month, a judge upheld the assault charges against Lanez, whose next court date is scheduled for Jan. 13. A detective testified during the hearing that Lanez yelled, “Dance b—, dance” when he shot at the ground near Megan’s feet, Variety reports.
After the hearing, Lanez and Megan both aired their frustrations with the media for coverage of the case. “NAH … I need someone to REPORT what was REALLY said in court today, 45 minutes of my lawyer stating contradictory evidence that proves my innocence should never come back as one false story forced to the media,” Lanez tweeted on Dec. 14.
Megan accused the media of portraying the incident as an argument between friends when she was the unarmed victim. “Like I’ve been SHOT and the focus of some these headlines are dismissing that I was attacked with a WEPON [sic] WHILE I WAS UNARMED and trying to paint it as a catfight between friends why do I have to relive this with everyone on the internet every day?” she wrote. “And watch y’all gaslight me.”
