It seems the stars of “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” are facing some serious legal trouble.
A Chicago man by the name of Ronnie Spates claimed he was physically assaulted by cast mates Ryan Henry, Junior Diaz, Don Brumfield and Van Johnson while at a party a few months ago, TMZ reported.
The alleged attack reportedly took place on December 1 at the 9MAG tattoo shop. Spates said he was minding his business when all of a sudden he was jumped on by all four “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” cast mates. They supposedly began kicking and punching him for no apparent reason, leaving him with “serious physical injuries” that required medical attention. Cops reportedly showed up to the party and found the alleged victim unsteady on his feet and with a bloody mouth. He was taken to the hospital shortly afterward. TMZ had previously reported that Diaz punched a then-unidentified guest at this same party.
Spates did say that the show’s production company “Big Fish Entertainment” was apparently trying to incite a fight and provided “large quantities of alcoholic beverages,” seemingly hoping it would lead to explosive behavior for better TV. He also faulted production’s security team, saying they “failed to prevent the attacks.”
As of last week, Spates filed a lawsuit against Henry, Diaz, Brumfield, Johnson and Big Fish Entertainment. He’s seeking more than $50,000 from each of the cast mates and Big Fish presumably for his injuries, plus he’s demanding they cover his legal costs. VH1 however is not named in legal documentation.
The filing of the apparent victim’s lawsuit comes a week before the premiere of part two of “Black Ink Crew: Chicago’s” season 5 which is slated to air Tuesday, June 4, at 8 p.m Eastern Time.
The violent altercation apparently aired during the February 13 episode, when Diaz and a guy called S.P., who’s seemingly Rodney Spates, got into a fight after a few verbal jabs toward each other.
The episode drew a mass of reactions from social media users.
“Wow that wasn’t right shame on Junior.”
“That’s crazy Ryan.”
“WOw SP started that not Junior!”
