On ‘SNL,’ Megan Thee Stallion Calls Out Kentucky’s Top Lawyer

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Oct 05, 2020

Megan Thee Stallion, who kicked off the performance season for "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) on October 3, told Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron exactly what she thought of his decision to not prosecute any police officers in the Breonna Taylor case during her “Savage” performance

Against a black-and-white background that looped the phrase “Protect Black Women,” Megan stopped her performance halfway, pausing after saying the song lyric “What’s happening?” The response was a cascade of bullet holes and the imagery of broken glass. As the background went black and she and her dancers stopped dancing, it became clear that Megan had a story to tell.

The lesson started with the voice of Malcolm X booming lines from a May 22, 1962, speech he gave in Los Angeles to address police brutality. In the excerpt of the speech, the icon asked, “Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?” The Malcolm X audio then asserted that Black women need to be protected because “the most disrespected person in American is the Black woman."

Next, Megan’s lesson jumped five decades to illustrate the lack of protection for Black women in the present, taking direct aim at Cameron. "Daniel Cameron is no different than the sellout Negroes that sold our people into slavery,” Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory said in another audio clip. Mallory made this statement at a September 25 press conference held by the Taylor family’s lawyer, Benjamin Crump

Cameron, who is Black, refused to bring charges against any of the officers for Taylor’s death. Instead he reportedly said, the “two officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor were justified in firing their weapons into her apartment, while another was charged with recklessly firing rounds that endangered people in a neighboring unit.” Colorlines recently reported that additional evidence contradicts or calls into question various police claims.  

Megan’s performance has particular meaning because the rapper spoke out against violence over the summer when she accused rapper Tory Lanez of shooting her in the feet. 

Before Megan ended her SNL “Savage” set, she reiterated the call for protection: “We need to protect our Black women. And love our Black women. Because at the end of the day, we need our Black women.” 

Watch the performance above.