The midseason return of “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” got off to a vehement start Tuesday evening.
Since Ryan Henry has passed the torch to his former frenemy, Van Johnson, things at the old 9MAG shop have been quite tumultuous. During part 1 of the midseason finale, Henry put Johnson in charge of his old tattoo shop to open a second location in Chicago. But fast-forward to this week’s premiere and it seems employees from the original 9MAG shop are having problems with Johnson’s management skills, including the shop’s assistant Bella and former employee Lily Barrios.
During the show’s finale in March, Barrios a tattoo artist of Mexican descent, quit 9MAG after getting scolded for using “nigga” on a constant basis. Many of the cast mates felt uncomfortable with her using the slur although she apparently didn’t see anything wrong with it.
Nevertheless, Barrios absence from the shop didn’t last very long after her friend Bella claimed during last night’s premiere that her former co-workers were supposedly gossiping behind her back.
To prove a point, Bella and Barrios decided to crash Johnson’s “taking over” celebration at the old 9MAG tattoo shop and confront him on apparently bullying Bella and talking behind Barrios back. However, things went left the moment the Mexican tattoo artist got into an argument with someone from Johnson’s entourage, calling him “my nigga.”
Moments later, a cup of some sort of substance was thrown in her face and she was immediately pulled to the side by Johnson who later kicked her and Bella out of the shop.
“Black Ink Crew: Chicago” fans had mixed reactions to the incident, some slamming Barrios, others dragging Johnson.
“First of all she’s pathetic! Lily still using the n-word and don’t see a problem with it and most of ya’ll who don’t see the PRINCIPAL of the situation ain’t even BLACK 🙄💯.”
“She deserved that drink in the face! Stop saying NIGGA ur not black!! I woulda baptized Lily wit a drink too.”
“Since when mf got so sensitive when someone Spanish says nigga 😑😑?”
“Van still whack 🤦🏽 Ryan gave him the shop BIG mistake he too ‘ hood fabulous’ he was wrong af for not standing up for Lily when his ppl disrespected her!”
“I mean they don’t want us to call them racial terms so what makes it ok for non black to say nigga to black people. And that’s not even Van shop, he just manages the shop.”
Last season Barrios eventually apologized for offending anyone by using the n-word, but not before she defended the reason why she says it.
“I understand why people feel like I can’t say the n-word, and regardless if it sounds like an excuse for them, I grew up saying it and it wasn’t nothing where it was out the blue,” Barrios explained to VH1 in February. “It’s something in my vocabulary how I grew up talking, it’s what it is.”
Checkout the midseason premiere below: