Megan Thee Stallion defends ‘SNL’ comments on Kentucky AG’s handling of Breonna Taylor case

Megan Thee Stallion is defending her recent “Saturday Night Live” performance in which she criticized Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) over his handling of a grand jury investigation in the Breonna Taylor case, calling it “ridiculous” that “some people think the simple phrase ‘Protect Black women’ is controversial.”

“I recently used the stage at ‘Saturday Night Live’ to harshly rebuke Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, for his appalling conduct in denying Breonna Taylor and her family justice,” the rapper wrote of her performance earlier this month in an  opinion piece published Tuesday in The New York Times.

“I anticipated some backlash: Anyone who follows the lead of Congressman John Lewis [D-Ga.], the late civil rights giant, and makes ‘good trouble, necessary trouble,’ runs the risk of being attacked by those comfortable with the status quo,” the 25-year-old performer wrote.

“But you know what? I’m not afraid of criticism. We live in a country where we have the freedom to criticize elected officials,” said Megan Thee Stallion, who was born Megan Pete. Black women, she said, “deserve to be protected as human beings. And we are entitled to our anger about a laundry list of mistreatment and neglect that we suffer.”

While performing her hit “Savage” during the show’s season premiere, the rapper paused briefly as the sound of eight recorded gunshots rang out in the background. Comments made by activist and Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory saying Cameron “is no different than the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery,” were also played.

Taylor was a Black EMT who died at the age of 26 in March after police in Louisville, Ky., fatally shot her in her apartment. None of the officers involved in the raid were indicted for Taylor’s death, Cameron announced last month following a grand jury investigation.

While saying he agreed with her remarks about protecting Black women, Cameron told “Fox & Friends” in an interview following Megan Thee Stallion’s performance: “The fact that someone would get on national television and make disparaging comments about me because I’m simply trying to do my job is disgusting.”

In her Times editorial, Megan Thee Stallion wrote that ahead of the Nov. 3 election, “Black women are expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidates. We have gone from being unable to vote legally to a highly courted voting bloc — all in little more than a century.”

“Despite this and despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life,” she said.

Black women are forced to “struggle against stereotypes” and “are seen as angry or threatening when we try to stand up for ourselves and our sisters,” the Texas native wrote. “There’s not much room for passionate advocacy if you are a Black woman.”

Weighing in on the White House race, Megan Thee Stallion said her hope is that Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) vice presidential bid “will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer ‘making history’ for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago.”

“But that will take time, and Black women are not naive,” she said. “We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”