Klay Thompson did not post a 'Free Tory' message on Instagram following his breakup with Megan Thee Stallion, despite a viral claim to the contrary that spread across X on Sunday, according to checks of the NBA star's social media accounts and an AI image analysis.
The news came after a turbulent few days inMegan and Klay Thompson's relationship, which had already been under intense scrutiny. The pair, who went public in July 2025, appeared to have quietly split before the rapper took to Instagram last weekend, accusing the Dallas Mavericks guard of cheating and wavering over whether he could be 'monogamous.' Her posts set off a predictable chain reaction online: fans taking sides, old controversies resurfacing and, inevitably, fabricated receipts starting to circulate.
The latest storm began when X user @backndfendi shared what looked like a screenshot of Klay Thompson's Instagram Story, showing a black screen with white text reading '#FreeTory,' a reference to rapper Tory Lanez. The image, posted on Sunday, rapidly picked up traction, racking up more than 1.6 million views and nearly 27,000 likes as users tied it to Megan Thee Stallion's long-running legal battle with Lanez.
Klay Thompson posts Free Tory Lanez on his IG Story after getting cheated on by Megan Thee Stallion 😬pic.twitter.com/abXksFM3PE
On its face, the supposed story played into a neat narrative: Thompson, freshly accused of infidelity by Megan, suddenly appearing to side with the man convicted of shooting her. It was exactly the kind of explosive crossover between celebrity relationships, criminal justice and NBA gossip that social media thrives on.
A closer look, however, unravels it almost immediately. Thompson's current Instagram profile picture does not match the one shown in the circulating screenshot. There is no trace of the 'Free Tory' story in his highlights or any evidence it was ever posted. When the image was run through an AI image detector, the tool flagged it as artificially generated, indicating that the screenshot itself was created with AI rather than captured from a real account.
This is getting out of hand 🖐️pic.twitter.com/Jda0X2GH5a
A similar doctored image then appeared in the comments beneath the original post, purporting to show Thompson writing 'TORY IS INNOCENT, My h*e just be lying.' That, too, does not exist on his real account.
The phrase 'Free Tory' carries heavy baggage in Megan Thee Stallion's story. She accused Tory Lanez of shooting her in the foot in July 2020, after a party at Kylie Jenner's home. Lanez was charged with felony assault and two additional counts, and the case went to trial in December 2022.
He was found guilty on all three charges and, in August 2023, sentenced to 10 years in prison. Supporters of Lanez have long questioned Megan's account, seizing upon inconsistencies in her retelling of the night. Under the hashtag '#FreeTory,' they have accused her of lying and ruining theSay Itsinger's life.
Source: International Business Times UK
