Charmaine Walker is currently not on speaking terms with her father after she created a viral TikTok video featuring her infant.
The “Black Ink Crew: Chicago” star participated in a water bottle trend last month where parents splash water all over their children as they jerk their kids’ bodies to a sound of a beat. Walker tried this challenge with her 3-month-old daughter Nola Bey and instantly received backlash from the public.
In a recent interview where Walker addressed the incident, she revealed that her dad also “charged” her up about the now-deleted TikTok video and has cut off all communication with her.
“My dad ends up finding out about it and we haven’t talked since,” she told Bossip in a July 2 interview. “Dad is pissed, I’m trying to figure out how do I call my dad and what do I say. I haven’t talked to him, I don’t know if he blocked me. I tried to text him the next day and it came up green.”
One social media user sided with Walker’s father and wrote, “I agree with him. I try not to judge people and their kids but this video is always hard to watch. That baby is too young for those games.” Another person added, “🤡 See what clout chasing gets you. That is a small baby. This is just cruel.”
One fan defended the television personality and commented, “It’s not that serious 💀 he acting like she threw the damn baby inna ocean. She’s a new mom and made a mistake cut her some slack lol.”
Following the backlash, Walker admitted that her decision to perform the challenge with her daughter wasn’t the best idea.
“TikTok’s the devil,” the VH1 star said. “I definitely was not waterboarding my baby but what I understand about this whole thing is perception and that is just where I completely failed in this. I literally did this TikTok with Nola thinking it was gonna be funny. I was kinda like playing a joke on her but yeah, she’s too young to know it’s a joke. I get it. I don’t know why I didn’t see what was coming. Looking back, it’s common sense.”
Walker said she “thought it would be a funny thing to do” but “it totally wasn’t funny.” She also addressed online users who accused her of dry drowning her baby.
“I splashed water around but the water hit the side of her face and chest, the water never went anywhere in her nose or in her mouth,” Walker explained. “She did have a reaction but that’s the same reaction she has when I wipe her with a cold wet wipe. Those are the reactions that babies give.”
In a June 13 statement on her blog with Chicago radio station WGCI, Walker apologized to her fans and followers for her actions, adding that she would never purposely harm her daughter.
“I thought it was okay to post but after re-evaluating it probably was just a bad idea overall because I would never want her to be put in harms way,” she said. “I apologize to anyone I have offended, but one thing for sure and two things for certain….. I’m a great mom !”
