Latest / Reality with The King / Bey Leaves w/ Charmaine Bey

Transcript

Bey Leaves w/ Charmaine Bey · Reality with The King

0:00
Speaker 1: They were not gonna make me look better than Ryan
0:04
Speaker 1: this season, and I'm not out here to look better
0:06
Speaker 1: than Ryan. But if Ryan don't look good, I look work.
0:09
Speaker 1: So we already starting off kind of bad.
0:12
Speaker 2: Okay, stay tuned. We'll get into my conversation with Charmagne
0:17
Speaker 2: Bay right after these quick ads. Welcome to Reality with
0:28
Speaker 2: the King. It's me Carlos King, the King of Reality
0:32
Speaker 2: TV and one of the most sought after executive producers
0:37
Speaker 2: in reality television with over ten years a production experience.
0:43
Speaker 2: So look, if you haven't heard, ah, I have a
0:48
Speaker 2: late night talk show coming to own. The show is
0:51
Speaker 2: called The Nightcap with Carlos King, so look for all
0:56
Speaker 2: of my reality lovers. It's a one stop shop for fun,
1:01
Speaker 2: for shade, for games, conversation, spilling the tea, pouring the tea,
1:07
Speaker 2: wiping the tea, laying in the tea. Honey, this talk
1:11
Speaker 2: show is going to be many things. So if you're
1:15
Speaker 2: enjoying my podcast, this talk show is the next level
1:19
Speaker 2: to getting some exclusive conversations that you're not going to
1:22
Speaker 2: get anywhere else. So today's guest on Reality with the
1:28
Speaker 2: King is someone that I consider to be the face
1:32
Speaker 2: of Black Ink Crewise Chicago, Charmagne Bang. Let me tell
1:37
Speaker 2: y'all from the honey, I love me some Charmaginne Bay.
1:42
Speaker 2: She is the star of the show, and she's so
1:46
Speaker 2: fun she's so beautiful. She caught my attention the moment
1:50
Speaker 2: I started watching that show, and as a reality TV producer,
1:55
Speaker 2: I know a star when I see one, and I
1:57
Speaker 2: was so drawn into her and everything that she had
2:01
Speaker 2: going on, because Charmaine came across so real, so genuine,
2:06
Speaker 2: and so authentic. Honey. That is until I started watching
2:10
Speaker 2: season two, episode one, and this woman who was naturally funny,
2:16
Speaker 2: I saw change in her. She became well most reality
2:20
Speaker 2: stars become their second season, which is and over the
2:24
Speaker 2: top caricature of themselves, and it turned me off so
2:29
Speaker 2: much that I actually stopped watching Black In Crew Chicago. Recently,
2:35
Speaker 2: Charmaine took to Instagram to announce that she had walked
2:38
Speaker 2: away from the show. She said, and I quote, I
2:42
Speaker 2: quit the TV show Black Ink Crew. I'm no longer
2:45
Speaker 2: working with TV tattoo artists. Unfollowed any phony person I
2:50
Speaker 2: used to deal with from the show, hired all dope
2:53
Speaker 2: artists who represents Chicago, and my haters will say my
2:58
Speaker 2: shop isn't legit. Whatever it helps you sleep at night.
3:01
Speaker 2: Hating on me would not get you a bigger bag,
3:05
Speaker 2: and it certainly will not stop my success. The worst
3:08
Speaker 2: ones are the ones who say they love you to
3:11
Speaker 2: your face, but they hate you deep down inside. When
3:16
Speaker 2: I saw her announcement, I immediately reached out to Charmage.
3:22
Speaker 2: I slided her DMS because yes, even the king of
3:26
Speaker 2: reality TV slides and DMS child just for reality stars,
3:32
Speaker 2: That's it. So I invited her to come on the
3:36
Speaker 2: podcast to share her exclusive story on why she left
3:42
Speaker 2: the show. And I'm so happy that she agreed to
3:46
Speaker 2: do it, and we had a wonderful conversation. So let's
3:54
Speaker 2: get right into it. Charmaygne, why did you quit Black
3:59
Speaker 2: Ink Crew?
4:00
Speaker 1: You know Black and Crew. Let me just start off,
4:02
Speaker 1: was a blessing, you know, a blessing in disguise. We
4:06
Speaker 1: started off as a tight, knick, close group of friends.
4:11
Speaker 1: Ryan owned a tattoo shot and I'm mad. You know.
4:14
Speaker 1: I was the manager, free spirit, bubbly, so much fun.
4:18
Speaker 1: Things were really organic in the beginning, and I could
4:20
Speaker 1: like be myself, I could be free and it was cool.
4:23
Speaker 1: But over time things got more produced, editing, got more
4:28
Speaker 1: like weird, and at some point in my career over
4:33
Speaker 1: the last seven years eleven on that show for seven years,
4:36
Speaker 1: I started to excel. I believe above the show. You know,
4:40
Speaker 1: I also have my own radio show for iHeartRadio, and
4:44
Speaker 1: I do all these other things. I have a tattoo
4:46
Speaker 1: shot myself now and at some point I believe that
4:50
Speaker 1: I became bigger than the show. So season seven everything
4:54
Speaker 1: was good. I always I'm an open book, so when
4:58
Speaker 1: things are going on in my life, I make sure
5:00
Speaker 1: the producers are there. When my mother, when I found
5:03
Speaker 1: out she was in the hospital, she had a heart attack.
5:06
Speaker 1: The reason why people saw my first reaction to when
5:10
Speaker 1: I found out she died because I let a producer
5:12
Speaker 1: in my home. When my father came dying of cancer,
5:17
Speaker 1: the last thing he wanted to do was be on TV.
5:20
Speaker 1: But I also know that this is a part of
5:22
Speaker 1: my job to be open to my fans. So like,
5:25
Speaker 1: you know, Dad, please, you know, like, please just do
5:28
Speaker 1: this for me. I understand I'm here to hold your hand,
5:31
Speaker 1: but I have a job to tell my story and
5:33
Speaker 1: this is a part of it right now because you're
5:35
Speaker 1: living with me. So I always did everything I could
5:38
Speaker 1: to make sure that they were included and involved season
5:41
Speaker 1: seven A, because now we're on well they're on season
5:45
Speaker 1: seven B right now.
5:47
Speaker 2: And let me explain to the audience too. So when
5:50
Speaker 2: networks title a season with a alphabet, right, you're right.
5:56
Speaker 2: So when Charmaine is saying season seven A, it's what
6:01
Speaker 2: she filmed and how the show is now filming season
6:04
Speaker 2: seven B, what that means is a network will pick
6:08
Speaker 2: up a season for the whole year, but they'll chop
6:11
Speaker 2: it in half. So for example, when you watch Housewives
6:15
Speaker 2: and it's like season seven that's filmed for like four months,
6:18
Speaker 2: right right, and then they wait a whole year to
6:21
Speaker 2: film another season. Networks nowadays are dividing get within two
6:27
Speaker 2: seasons because you pretty much shoot all year round.
6:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, we shoot all year round. And season seven A,
6:33
Speaker 1: it just became very apparent that there was a huge
6:37
Speaker 1: target on my back. There was a situation. Well one
6:40
Speaker 1: one thing that I realize is they were not gonna
6:43
Speaker 1: make me look better than Ryan this season. And I'm
6:46
Speaker 1: not out here to look better than Ryan. But if
6:48
Speaker 1: Ryan don't look good, I look work. So we already
6:52
Speaker 1: starting off kind of bad. Okay. Secondly, so many things
6:56
Speaker 1: happened there was a situation where I didn't want this
7:00
Speaker 1: girl to work in my shop because she was sleeping
7:02
Speaker 1: with my friend's boyfriend and her the boyfriend worked in
7:06
Speaker 1: my shop as well. Next thing, I know, that's why
7:08
Speaker 1: I didn't want her working there. Next thing, I know,
7:10
Speaker 1: there is a colorism storyline. She's brown skin and at
7:14
Speaker 1: the convention, we went to a teptook convention. At the convention,
7:17
Speaker 1: she came to the convention yelling screaman who in island,
7:20
Speaker 1: pointing rye rah rah. So I said, look, girl, if
7:23
Speaker 1: you want to act all ghetto fabulous, you could go
7:25
Speaker 1: do that elsewhere, but don't do it in front of
7:27
Speaker 1: my boots. At the convention, they edited out, took out
7:31
Speaker 1: her acting all crazy, put in the parts where she's
7:36
Speaker 1: acting calm and talking normal, but kept me saying, if
7:39
Speaker 1: you want to act all ghetto fabulous and mind you,
7:42
Speaker 1: I'm lif skin. This is a brown girl. Next thing,
7:45
Speaker 1: I know, she's having a scene crying about protecting black women.
7:48
Speaker 1: I'm not in that scene. This is things that are
7:51
Speaker 1: undenounced to me. I am not. I had no idea.
7:54
Speaker 1: So I was watching it on TV with the rest
7:55
Speaker 1: of the world. She's crying about protecting black women. And
7:59
Speaker 1: then she goes to an interview and I know what
8:02
Speaker 1: a networked interview bite looks like versus something that just
8:05
Speaker 1: might come out of my mouth. Naturally, it was a
8:08
Speaker 1: network interview bite where she's explaining what colorism is. And
8:12
Speaker 1: that was the No matter how hard it is sometimes
8:17
Speaker 1: the film and how hard it is to get through it,
8:20
Speaker 1: and to think that they edit and all of that,
8:22
Speaker 1: you know, it's like, Okay, this is a part of
8:24
Speaker 1: my job. I signed up for this. But that is
8:26
Speaker 1: when I knew that I'm in a very dangerous situation
8:30
Speaker 1: with Viacom, Like this is absolutely insane, you know what
8:34
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So that was the And for me, I'm pregnant,
8:38
Speaker 1: my father just died of cancer. I just lost my mom.
8:42
Speaker 1: I was pregnant when I lost my mom. I'm like,
8:44
Speaker 1: why are y'all doing this to me? We didn't have
8:47
Speaker 1: to do this, you know, this was uncalled for. And
8:52
Speaker 1: that's just when I felt like all money is not
8:55
Speaker 1: good money. There was no amount of money that they
8:57
Speaker 1: could come back with to say, hey, can we fix this,
9:02
Speaker 1: which they tried to do. Can we fix it? And
9:05
Speaker 1: I was like, no, we can't fix it, you know,
9:07
Speaker 1: because this isn't going good for me. I've done seven years.
9:10
Speaker 1: I'm not benefiting from the show anymore. I actually lost
9:13
Speaker 1: three thousand followers my last season. I lost three thousand followers. Why.
9:18
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, people were like, oh my god,
9:20
Speaker 1: you bought a black girl's ghetto.
9:23
Speaker 2: You know, like, oh, okay, because you felt like they
9:26
Speaker 2: played into the storyline up beknownst to you that this
9:31
Speaker 2: brown skinned girl felt that colorism was an issue between
9:36
Speaker 2: the two of you, and because they edited out moments
9:42
Speaker 2: that led up to you calling her that, you felt
9:44
Speaker 2: that it was dangerous. There was a target on your back,
9:47
Speaker 2: and the fans felt that light skin privilege light skinned women.
9:51
Speaker 2: They looked down on their chocolate sisters, and you felt
9:53
Speaker 2: that was the case, and the audience apparently thought that
9:56
Speaker 2: was the case, and you lost followers because of it.
9:58
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, luckily it didn't like stick because a lot
10:01
Speaker 1: of people was like, come on, Charmaine's not a coloriss Like,
10:06
Speaker 1: my husband is dark skin, my grandmother, my father, my godmother,
10:12
Speaker 1: her nickname is chocolate. I mean, I was so offended
10:17
Speaker 1: by it, especially because at the time I was pregnant
10:20
Speaker 1: and like I said, my hesbanitation so I could have
10:24
Speaker 1: easily a dark skinned baby, and I might have to
10:28
Speaker 1: explain this to my child. Like I'm getting the goosebumps
10:33
Speaker 1: even talking about it. It just was so hurtful. I
10:35
Speaker 1: was just distraught because I mean, come on, like I
10:39
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, I went to Howard, you know what I'm saying,
10:42
Speaker 1: Like I'm with my brothers and sisters, I'm not looking.
10:45
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. Colorism is definitely a thing and
10:48
Speaker 1: an issue, but I'm not looking at color when I
10:54
Speaker 1: want to work with someone, or when I want to
10:56
Speaker 1: be friends with someone, or when I want to love someone.
11:00
Speaker 1: That is not who I am. And DH One went
11:03
Speaker 1: and hired this whole team of black activist people to
11:09
Speaker 1: talk about social issues that's going on in the black
11:12
Speaker 1: community for TV for putting it in storyline. So they
11:17
Speaker 1: used me and basically use two black women to talk
11:21
Speaker 1: about social black issues. So I say, you know what,
11:24
Speaker 1: this is dangerous and I am absolutely not doing this
11:27
Speaker 1: any more. And for me, the reason why I was
11:29
Speaker 1: so hurt because I was their most loyal I show
11:32
Speaker 1: up on time, I come and get the job done,
11:36
Speaker 1: what we're doing today, or we got to turn up.
11:38
Speaker 1: Well I'm gonna turn up if anybody that's connected to me,
11:41
Speaker 1: they're going to turn up too. If my tattoo shop
11:45
Speaker 1: is there. I'm telling them, y'all were still on a
11:47
Speaker 1: TV show, so make sure you bring your best. Like,
11:50
Speaker 1: you know, if you need to take a shot, y'all ahead,
11:52
Speaker 1: do it. Loosen up. You're gonna be okay. You know,
11:54
Speaker 1: I have producer credit this last season because I come
11:58
Speaker 1: correct and it just wasn't what I expected.
12:02
Speaker 2: You felt disrespected and targeted, and so that was the
12:06
Speaker 2: straw that broke the camel's back because you felt they
12:09
Speaker 2: at that point your career that you built for the
12:12
Speaker 2: past seven years was going to be affected by this.
12:17
Speaker 2: So was this a situation where you spoke to the
12:20
Speaker 2: network about quitting? Was it a mutual decision? How did
12:23
Speaker 2: that come about?
12:24
Speaker 1: I am definitely reached out to my team. I couldn't
12:27
Speaker 1: talk to the network. I would cry so hard, Like
12:31
Speaker 1: I cried harder about this than I cried dealing with
12:34
Speaker 1: my father and his cancer. Like it was similar to
12:37
Speaker 1: when I found out my dad had cancer. The way
12:39
Speaker 1: that I cried about this, I just felt like they
12:42
Speaker 1: sat me in the back, like why me? You know
12:45
Speaker 1: I'm your I'm the one that does everything for you guys,
12:48
Speaker 1: like I am the most respectful. You know, you got
12:53
Speaker 1: cast members that are going to go off on producers,
12:56
Speaker 1: you know, say you ain't shit, I hate you, I
12:58
Speaker 1: hate this, this eve yanking off they might. I ain't
13:01
Speaker 1: doing none of that. I'm gonna be Charmaine twenty four
13:05
Speaker 1: to seven. And I just did not understand why me
13:10
Speaker 1: and for me. It's when I went to my team
13:12
Speaker 1: about this. I was so distraught about it, and I
13:15
Speaker 1: could feel the energy in my stomach and I'm pregnant.
13:18
Speaker 1: I could feel I felt it, and I was just like,
13:21
Speaker 1: you know, this is toxic, this is dangerous. So I
13:24
Speaker 1: couldn't talk to the network directly. I had to have
13:27
Speaker 1: my team deal with them, and I tried to come
13:31
Speaker 1: back and I tried to continue. I filmed one scene
13:36
Speaker 1: for seven B where they shined a good light. You know,
13:39
Speaker 1: they were really like, oh, We're so sorry, like we
13:42
Speaker 1: didn't see a colorism issue, like, oh, you know, it
13:46
Speaker 1: was just for Twitter conversation, you know, And I really
13:51
Speaker 1: felt like it was important at this point at seven
13:53
Speaker 1: B when I came, you know, back to film, I
13:56
Speaker 1: wasn't doing it for me. I was doing it for
13:58
Speaker 1: my tattoo shop. I have these new artists that work
14:00
Speaker 1: at my shop. I wanted to put them on, so
14:03
Speaker 1: that's what I was doing it for. And as I
14:05
Speaker 1: was sitting there, I felt so uncomfortable, like I can't
14:08
Speaker 1: I had to watch everything that I said. But then
14:11
Speaker 1: I realized, it's not even about what you say. It
14:13
Speaker 1: don't even matter what you say. They are going to
14:15
Speaker 1: do what they want to do and post in editing,
14:18
Speaker 1: They're going to do whatever they want to do. And
14:20
Speaker 1: I just felt like, you know what for my mental health,
14:23
Speaker 1: Like my mental health was very much, very affected. I
14:26
Speaker 1: the way that I I how emotional I was about this,
14:30
Speaker 1: this was you know, it was just insane, and I
14:35
Speaker 1: had to look out for my mental health. I had
14:36
Speaker 1: to look out for my pregnancy. I had just thought
14:38
Speaker 1: my father, I'm still wanting my mother. So you know,
14:43
Speaker 1: I couldn't even be a mom to my one year
14:46
Speaker 1: old at the time because I was so distraught over
14:50
Speaker 1: this and I'm pregnant and I couldn't play with her.
14:52
Speaker 1: I couldn't you know, be happy and just be normal.
14:56
Speaker 1: I was crying all the time. So I just was like,
14:59
Speaker 1: you know what, this is not good for me. No
15:01
Speaker 1: amount of money is worth what I'm going through right now.
15:04
Speaker 2: No, no, listen, no amount of money is worth your
15:08
Speaker 2: mental health. The beauty of social media, They're highlighted black
15:13
Speaker 2: people dealing with mental health and not being afraid to
15:16
Speaker 2: talk about that. When you say your mental health, do
15:19
Speaker 2: you mean you fall into depression? Like, talk to me
15:21
Speaker 2: about what that did for you dealing with this situation.
15:25
Speaker 1: I was extremely depressive, mind you. I was already dealing
15:29
Speaker 1: with so much on my back personally when it came
15:33
Speaker 1: to the loss of my parents and stuff, So I
15:37
Speaker 1: was already dealing with that. I felt like this was
15:39
Speaker 1: uncalled for and speaking of social media, social media does
15:45
Speaker 1: have a beauty to it. But when something like that
15:47
Speaker 1: plays on TV, people are coming at you left and right,
15:52
Speaker 1: and they gonna remind you of why all the reasons
15:54
Speaker 1: why they do not bus with you. Okay, they bringing
15:58
Speaker 1: up I ain't even man. They knew my history on
16:01
Speaker 1: the show more than I knew my history. I was like, oh,
16:03
Speaker 1: that did happen? Like you know? And and I think
16:06
Speaker 1: a big part of why I was so upset too,
16:10
Speaker 1: is all the things that these people are listening about me. Tarmain,
16:14
Speaker 1: You just with everybody in the shop, like, that's not true.
16:17
Speaker 1: I put one person in the shop.
16:20
Speaker 2: You know who was gran No season one, it was done.
16:26
Speaker 1: You know it was that was like the highlight of
16:32
Speaker 1: the show back thing.
16:33
Speaker 2: You know, it was, That's what I was watching. I
16:36
Speaker 2: guess I don't blame.
16:38
Speaker 1: You crazy you are, you know, I honestly I can't
16:43
Speaker 1: even remember. I can't.
16:45
Speaker 2: I can't remember. I wasn't mad.
16:49
Speaker 1: But you know, people are telling me left and right
16:52
Speaker 1: what I did. I'm a hoe and you know how
16:55
Speaker 1: I'm a bad business owner. Mind you, b h one
16:59
Speaker 1: never played my multi million dollar business bemar. They never
17:04
Speaker 1: They were not interested in playing that. They're only showing
17:07
Speaker 1: me be a bad business owner quote unquote in the
17:10
Speaker 1: tattoo space. So now I'm a bad business owner in general,
17:15
Speaker 1: you know, to these people and just all of these things,
17:17
Speaker 1: and the way the network, the stab in the back
17:20
Speaker 1: and what was going to forever be on TV. You know,
17:23
Speaker 1: even the girl that did this when Big Fish, who
17:27
Speaker 1: was a production company at the time, when they came
17:29
Speaker 1: to me and I said, you know, these are the
17:31
Speaker 1: people that we would like to be in your shop.
17:34
Speaker 1: I didn't have any brown skin girls. I said, I
17:36
Speaker 1: need a brownskin girl, you know I need, That's what
17:38
Speaker 1: I need, That's what we want to see. So they
17:40
Speaker 1: went and found this brownskin girl. And now if you're
17:42
Speaker 1: talking about colorism on me, and I'm like, girl, I
17:45
Speaker 1: gave you the opportunity. So it was just like depressing
17:49
Speaker 1: all the way around. I felt very misunderstood to people
17:54
Speaker 1: who don't know me, you.
17:56
Speaker 2: Know, right, and people who don't know So you're saying,
18:01
Speaker 2: the production company provided a cast around you to make
18:06
Speaker 2: it appear that they worked at this shop. And this
18:09
Speaker 2: is the reason why a lot of people always ask me,
18:11
Speaker 2: is reality fake? Is it real? And I'm always like,
18:14
Speaker 2: I can only speak on the show, so I produce
18:15
Speaker 2: it's real and listen, your actions are real. But what
18:18
Speaker 2: you're talking about is very interesting because you're saying that
18:23
Speaker 2: you have this tattoo shop and the producer said, well,
18:26
Speaker 2: we're going to cast the people to work here so
18:28
Speaker 2: they can make good TV. Not necessarily, these people are
18:31
Speaker 2: on your payroll. Exactly, gotcha.
18:34
Speaker 1: So that's why it was so easy to manipulate these
18:38
Speaker 1: people to even do a storyline like that again.
18:40
Speaker 2: Because you weren't their real boss. Yeah, stay tuned for
18:46
Speaker 2: more of my conversation with Charmaine Bay. We'll be right
18:50
Speaker 2: back after some quick ads. This is Reality with the King,
18:59
Speaker 2: and I'm Carlos King. Let's get back into my conversation
19:03
Speaker 2: with Charmaine Bay. When I watched season one of Black
19:09
Speaker 2: In Crew, I remember tweeting about it, and I remember
19:12
Speaker 2: letting the audience know, like, yo, I love Black Ink Crew.
19:16
Speaker 2: I especially loved you because you're such a star and
19:20
Speaker 2: you were a breath of fresh air you and I
19:23
Speaker 2: was down for season one, baby. I was down for
19:26
Speaker 2: Donn and Ashley and Charmaine triangle. I was down for
19:29
Speaker 2: Ryan trying to uplift his community. I thought that season
19:33
Speaker 2: has so much momentum until I watched season two, episode one,
19:41
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna keep it real with you, Charmaine. I
19:43
Speaker 2: will never forget the show opened up and Charmaiy, you
19:49
Speaker 2: came into that shop like on one hundred and.
19:52
Speaker 1: You know what, that was my job.
19:55
Speaker 2: So let me tell you. Season one I thought was
19:57
Speaker 2: so real, so so honest. Organic season two, you came
20:01
Speaker 2: in a shop on one hundred and I was like,
20:03
Speaker 2: why is charmaide She is doing the absolute most? Like
20:07
Speaker 2: is this the season two thing? Because you know reality stars,
20:11
Speaker 2: After season one, we call it this season two blow up.
20:15
Speaker 2: Like you see how you look on TV or how
20:17
Speaker 2: you act on TV, and you sort of take on
20:19
Speaker 2: this character that you think people like. And I was like,
20:22
Speaker 2: I really hope Charmain isn't going to be like a
20:25
Speaker 2: characature or so because she's.
20:26
Speaker 1: Bombed, right.
20:28
Speaker 2: And I watched all of season two and it became
20:33
Speaker 2: more violent than I wanted it to be. And I
20:36
Speaker 2: felt that although altercations happened season one, to me, it
20:40
Speaker 2: was rooted in a real place. But I felt that
20:43
Speaker 2: season two was on ten so talk to me about
20:46
Speaker 2: what did you sign up for and what did the
20:49
Speaker 2: show end up being or becoming.
20:51
Speaker 1: So season one was so organic. We were a group
20:54
Speaker 1: of friends that hung out every day till two three
20:59
Speaker 1: in the morning in Tennessee's smoking weed, you know, doing
21:03
Speaker 1: what we wanted to do with each other, those you know,
21:06
Speaker 1: having fun at the shop. And that's why season one
21:09
Speaker 1: was saw organic because they literally just put the cameras
21:12
Speaker 1: up and watched us do us season two. And it's
21:17
Speaker 1: so funny because I never spoke with like a producer
21:21
Speaker 1: in an interview setting about this, but for you just
21:26
Speaker 1: see that. But I do talk about it all the time,
21:29
Speaker 1: a lot of the pressure was put on me too.
21:32
Speaker 1: It was like, Okay, Charmaine is our star, You're the
21:34
Speaker 1: start of the show.
21:35
Speaker 2: That's why I don't understand. Listen, and I want people
21:37
Speaker 2: to know I'm not mean spirited, so when I say this,
21:40
Speaker 2: I'm being honest. I never understood why they tried to
21:43
Speaker 2: make Ryan the face of the show, when to me,
21:46
Speaker 2: it was like, this is Charmain show.
21:48
Speaker 1: Well, Ryan owned the shop at the time, and he
21:53
Speaker 1: was the reason why you know his baby mom. Rachel
21:57
Speaker 1: has a son with Jeremiah A. DH one bought the
22:00
Speaker 1: show kind of around that aspect, but when we started
22:04
Speaker 1: filming season one, Rachel pulled out. Rachel did the pilot
22:07
Speaker 1: with us, but then you didn't see her for the
22:09
Speaker 1: rest of season one. So you see her the first
22:11
Speaker 1: episode because that was the pilot, and then episode two
22:14
Speaker 1: was actually shot like nine months later, and she decided
22:18
Speaker 1: that she didn't want to move forward with Black Ink,
22:20
Speaker 1: and VH one was like, you know what, we bought
22:22
Speaker 1: the show already with this idea, but we're going to
22:25
Speaker 1: continue to fuck with it because we got this crazy girl, Charmaine,
22:29
Speaker 1: and we just don't see where that goes. So season
22:32
Speaker 1: one was super organic and I got to be me free, expiritive, fun, happy, funny, drunk,
22:37
Speaker 1: you know whatever I wanted to be. Season two, it
22:40
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, Charmaine, you're our star, so the whole
22:43
Speaker 1: show is on your back. Okay, moving forward, Okay, the
22:46
Speaker 1: whole shows on your back. Everybody else, you know, Ryan
22:50
Speaker 1: kind of just kind of played in the background a
22:52
Speaker 1: little bit. A lot of the drama was still with me.
22:56
Speaker 1: Don and Ashley then was still kind of finding himself,
23:01
Speaker 1: and four had the music thing going but still not
23:06
Speaker 1: really like in the Forefront. So it was like, Charmaine,
23:10
Speaker 1: we need you to go like Charmaine. The guys are
23:12
Speaker 1: in the shop right now and they are so dull,
23:15
Speaker 1: but when you go in there, we need you to
23:17
Speaker 1: bring the energy out. We need you. So that's I mean,
23:21
Speaker 1: I'm so good at that. I can do that. I mean,
23:23
Speaker 1: I can do whatever.
23:24
Speaker 2: That's why you came in on ten and he's scaring me.
23:29
Speaker 1: Okay, that's why the one to tell you that happened
23:32
Speaker 1: for a few seasons, right, I.
23:34
Speaker 2: Know, I stopped watching I'm gonna be real with you.
23:37
Speaker 2: Season two was still good, so I still watched season two,
23:39
Speaker 2: but I remember the first episode, like, damn, she's coming
23:42
Speaker 2: on strong. But I kind of knew, like, m is
23:45
Speaker 2: this someone in her ear or whatever? And then season
23:48
Speaker 2: three I still watch because I'm telling you, I love
23:50
Speaker 2: the show. Season three is when it was like a
23:53
Speaker 2: fight every episode and I was like, y'all, I gotta
23:55
Speaker 2: bow out. It was when I think when Ryan punched
24:01
Speaker 2: the producer.
24:02
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we were on a beach on an island.
24:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was like, this ain't my I didn't
24:07
Speaker 2: sign up for this.
24:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it definitely got really crazy, and it
24:12
Speaker 1: was definitely I mean that was the nature of Black
24:14
Speaker 1: Ink at the time. I feel like that's why people
24:16
Speaker 1: were watching. They wanted to see those fights. You know,
24:18
Speaker 1: I can't even blame production or anything like that, like
24:21
Speaker 1: that was the nature of our viewers.
24:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen this. I mean, obviously, I'm a producer,
24:25
Speaker 2: so of course I'm not blaming network producers, nobody. As
24:29
Speaker 2: an adult, you're responsible for your own actions. So me
24:32
Speaker 2: saying that was more so of I watched Black Ink
24:34
Speaker 2: as a viewer, not as a reality producer, and I
24:38
Speaker 2: fell in love with the conceit of the show being
24:41
Speaker 2: these entrepreneurial black people in Chicago at the height of
24:47
Speaker 2: the city being known for its crime and Obama's from Chicago,
24:51
Speaker 2: but he's now in office and what that means to
24:54
Speaker 2: this city. I bought into that concept, and for me
24:58
Speaker 2: it just became something where episode.
25:00
Speaker 1: Was a fight, and it was definitely sometimes a pressure
25:04
Speaker 1: to like turn up and fight. Like some fights were fabricated,
25:08
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. You could tell which was
25:10
Speaker 1: what was real and what wasn't. You know, some things
25:12
Speaker 1: that weren't real didn't make it because it was too bad,
25:14
Speaker 1: it was too fake. But wrestling, yes, you know. Going
25:22
Speaker 1: back to me being like this character, it's so funny
25:25
Speaker 1: because by season four, going into like season five, I
25:30
Speaker 1: started getting those talks like okay, so we know we
25:32
Speaker 1: made you this character, and we know that that's our fault,
25:36
Speaker 1: but we need you to come out of that. And
25:39
Speaker 1: it actually took me some time to even untrain my
25:45
Speaker 1: mind to come out of being a character, to come
25:49
Speaker 1: out of coming in on ten like just walk in normally,
25:53
Speaker 1: say hey, normally like hey y'all, Like I'm so used
25:56
Speaker 1: to coming in like what's up? Your girls are made?
26:00
Speaker 2: Hey?
26:00
Speaker 1: Hey? You know, just to having to figure out how
26:04
Speaker 1: to just walk in just normal, be be yourself be normal,
26:08
Speaker 1: and they knew that they created that, you know, But
26:11
Speaker 1: now then it was time for me to fall out
26:14
Speaker 1: of that because of course, you know, they'd be having
26:16
Speaker 1: these what are those things called when a group of
26:19
Speaker 1: people watch and they give you their little notes, the group,
26:22
Speaker 1: the focus group. I'm sure the focus group came back
26:24
Speaker 1: like Charmaine can calm down now, you know, but you
26:29
Speaker 1: know it took some time.
26:30
Speaker 2: Definitely, what is your relationship like now with Ryan?
26:33
Speaker 1: First and foremost always respected Ryan because if it wasn't
26:37
Speaker 1: for Ryan, I would have never even been on this platform.
26:40
Speaker 1: You know, he is the owner of nine Mag and
26:43
Speaker 1: nine Mag is the reason why they bought the show,
26:46
Speaker 1: like the reason why we got a show, the reason
26:48
Speaker 1: why the opportunity was there. I was the girl that
26:51
Speaker 1: Ryan said, well, when the network said, well we need
26:54
Speaker 1: some more girls, he said, well let me let me
26:56
Speaker 1: brings Charmain through. You know. So I would have never
27:00
Speaker 1: had this opportunity without Ryan. But again, over time, things
27:04
Speaker 1: definitely became more about I guess maybe me. I became successful.
27:10
Speaker 1: I you know, worked I worked very hard. It's not
27:13
Speaker 1: like I just became successful like I worked so hard,
27:16
Speaker 1: like so many people are on this platform, and they
27:18
Speaker 1: ain't got shpit just like they didn't have shit before
27:21
Speaker 1: the platform. So I definitely took the opportunity with the
27:23
Speaker 1: platform because I knew it wasn't gonna be here forever
27:26
Speaker 1: to you know, make it do what it do. But
27:29
Speaker 1: at some point Ryan and I spootways. When it comes
27:32
Speaker 1: to test two shops. I have my shopecon City, Inc.
27:35
Speaker 1: Brian has to shop my mag And we still tried
27:39
Speaker 1: to like be friends. We beat every now and then.
27:42
Speaker 1: But when my mom died, I became cool with Ryan
27:46
Speaker 1: again because my mother loved Ryan, and that was kind
27:49
Speaker 1: of like something she always spoke about, like she just
27:52
Speaker 1: please be cool with Ryan. Please don't argue with Ryan.
27:57
Speaker 1: Like you and Ryan, y'all gonna be good, you know.
27:59
Speaker 1: So I knew that was so important to her, and
28:01
Speaker 1: he knew that too, So we became friends again and
28:04
Speaker 1: like just put it all beat aside when my mom died,
28:07
Speaker 1: and I really like held that close to my heart
28:10
Speaker 1: and felt that, you know, we both are walking a
28:13
Speaker 1: new path with each other. But season seven A let
28:17
Speaker 1: me tell you, sometimes some people they have issues when
28:21
Speaker 1: other people shine a little bit more than they shine. Okay,
28:26
Speaker 1: and he is one of those people. And I love Ryan.
28:29
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. I love Ryan, but I know Ryan,
28:32
Speaker 1: and that's what I was telling him yesterday. I know you,
28:35
Speaker 1: so don't act like these things did not happen. So
28:38
Speaker 1: season seven, I'm hearing all kinds of things. Yes, producers
28:42
Speaker 1: can be messy, we all know that. But I'm hearing things.
28:46
Speaker 1: And it all started when he saw that I got
28:48
Speaker 1: a producer credit along with his producer credit. So he
28:52
Speaker 1: was mad.
28:53
Speaker 2: So are you and Ryan the only cast members who
28:56
Speaker 2: get a producer credit?
28:57
Speaker 1: Yes, and he was mad when he saw that I
29:00
Speaker 1: had a producer credit. He was told that I wasn't
29:03
Speaker 1: going to have one. So my thing is, why are
29:04
Speaker 1: you ask him about me? Though? Are you worried about
29:07
Speaker 1: me getting a producer credit? Why you're not just focus
29:09
Speaker 1: on your producer credit. You know, I didn't ask for
29:11
Speaker 1: a producer credit. They called me and asked me if
29:13
Speaker 1: I wanted one, So I let him know that too.
29:16
Speaker 1: But you know, it all started with a producer credit.
29:19
Speaker 1: So when I got this producer credit, his energy kind
29:22
Speaker 1: of switched up a little bit. But that's in my
29:23
Speaker 1: face what I'm hearing about him. Behind the scene, there's
29:27
Speaker 1: a scene or a situation where they cut one of
29:30
Speaker 1: his scenes to put one of my scenes in, and
29:33
Speaker 1: he did a lot of preparing for this scene that
29:36
Speaker 1: they cut, so he had every right to be frustrated.
29:40
Speaker 1: But he behind the scenes having a temper tantrum because
29:43
Speaker 1: we know lyon having a temper tantrum, So why things
29:47
Speaker 1: always got to go back to this bitch? So I'm like,
29:50
Speaker 1: I actually cried. I actually cried when I heard that,
29:53
Speaker 1: because I'm like, oh, I'm a bit and I know
29:55
Speaker 1: him and that's how he speaks, so I don't say
29:59
Speaker 1: anything of out of I actually played nice and I
30:02
Speaker 1: just charged it to the game because I know how
30:04
Speaker 1: Ryan is and I know he's dealt with a lot
30:07
Speaker 1: of trauma in his life, you know. And I ain't
30:10
Speaker 1: gonna I ain't gonna make everything issue, so I charge
30:13
Speaker 1: it to the game. I never said anything about it.
30:15
Speaker 1: Now I've put the show. Now, I'm not even on
30:17
Speaker 1: the show. I'm not even a part of it. And
30:21
Speaker 1: I get something sent to me where Ryan puts some
30:26
Speaker 1: fire emojis in a comment. Someone says Second City, Inc.
30:29
Speaker 1: Is fire like my tattoo shot said the city ink fire.
30:34
Speaker 1: He said psych So I put him on blast you know,
30:37
Speaker 1: wrote that long comment. I did the little real you
30:40
Speaker 1: know while you how you mad at me? Because I'm like,
30:44
Speaker 1: you obviously got an issue with me, Like how are
30:46
Speaker 1: you mad at me? For me being mad at you?
30:48
Speaker 1: I recently before that, I skipped apart. I am followed
30:52
Speaker 1: Ryan on Instagram and I announced that I put the
30:55
Speaker 1: show and I did sneak with him. In the comment,
30:57
Speaker 1: I said, I'm followed any nights to follow from Black
31:01
Speaker 1: Ink because I was getting messages still from people that
31:06
Speaker 1: he hates my success. He hates just everything.
31:10
Speaker 2: That I You know, do you think do you think
31:13
Speaker 2: Ryan's jealous of you?
31:15
Speaker 1: I do think Ryan is jealous of me, But I
31:17
Speaker 1: think Ryan can't help it. He can't help it. He's
31:21
Speaker 1: not purposely jealous of me. He just we're on the
31:24
Speaker 1: same platform. So I'm not supposed to have more than
31:27
Speaker 1: him because this was his opportunity. So me having a
31:31
Speaker 1: tattoo shop, it's like, now she on the same level
31:35
Speaker 1: as me. Me getting the producer credit, Now she on
31:37
Speaker 1: the same level as me, you know, And.
31:40
Speaker 2: It's like, that's not what it's about.
31:43
Speaker 1: There's enough room for all of us to eat here.
31:46
Speaker 1: I was so set up and I took the opportunity
31:49
Speaker 1: to address it online. Ryan ended up deleting all his
31:53
Speaker 1: comments that he left, but then he hit me up.
31:57
Speaker 1: He apologized to my husband. He texted him. He texted me,
32:01
Speaker 1: and we talked. We were texting till like ten o'clock
32:03
Speaker 1: last night. There is no beef with Ryan and I,
32:07
Speaker 1: but I am no longer going to allow toxic people
32:11
Speaker 1: in my life. And I love Ryan because we have
32:15
Speaker 1: so much history. But the problem is I know him
32:18
Speaker 1: like the back of my hand. So while he's sitting
32:20
Speaker 1: here where I'm telling him, you know, I heard this
32:24
Speaker 1: that you're saying this about me, that you're saying that
32:26
Speaker 1: about me, that you're saying you calling me bitch, you're
32:28
Speaker 1: saying this, And he's like, first he's denying it all,
32:32
Speaker 1: and then by ten o'clock you're like, oh, you know what,
32:35
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about. I did say that.
32:37
Speaker 1: You know. He was trying to explain it in a
32:39
Speaker 1: very logical like he was being logical in the time
32:42
Speaker 1: that these things are happening. But I'm like, Ryan, you know,
32:45
Speaker 1: I know you right, you know I know that you
32:47
Speaker 1: have any temper, santrums and meltdown. So he has a
32:52
Speaker 1: lot to work on with himself, and I hope that
32:56
Speaker 1: he gets whatever help he needs to get. But I
33:00
Speaker 1: told him, keep my name out your mouth and you
33:02
Speaker 1: will never have to worry about me saying anything about you.
33:06
Speaker 2: Do you have any regrets to doing the show?
33:09
Speaker 1: No, not at all. Like I actually cried when it
33:13
Speaker 1: was finalized that I'm not on the show, and it
33:15
Speaker 1: was because it was like a breakup. You know, this
33:20
Speaker 1: is a huge part of me black In through Chicago.
33:23
Speaker 1: I mean, when I'm walking down the street now, people
33:26
Speaker 1: say like, oh, I took some Bey Moss, you know
33:29
Speaker 1: my company Sea Mak they taken my Sea Moths. Or
33:32
Speaker 1: they'd be like, girl, I love you on the radio.
33:33
Speaker 1: But before all of that, it was girl, you'd be
33:37
Speaker 1: turning up on Black Ink. I've watched my cousin you. You'd
33:40
Speaker 1: be working and bah bah da da dah. You know,
33:42
Speaker 1: they'd be telling me the whole rundown. So it hurts
33:46
Speaker 1: because I really am very much connected to my fans
33:50
Speaker 1: and me not being able to connect with them in
33:53
Speaker 1: that way anymore, it hurts. You know. It's not what
33:56
Speaker 1: I wanted. I didn't want to quit Black Ink I go,
34:00
Speaker 1: but I had to because it wasn't going it was
34:03
Speaker 1: not benefiting me, and it wasn't going in a good direction.
34:06
Speaker 1: So it's like, girl, you got to get out before
34:08
Speaker 1: they do some other shit, you know what I'm saying.
34:11
Speaker 1: You're like, before they really fuck your life up. It hurts,
34:14
Speaker 1: you know. I love everything. I love where I came from.
34:18
Speaker 1: I love the glow up that I had. If it
34:22
Speaker 1: wasn't for the show, I wouldn't be on the radio.
34:24
Speaker 1: I can look back forever and see my mom and
34:28
Speaker 1: our relationship and her mannerisms and her voice and just
34:35
Speaker 1: such great moments of my life. So I am forever grateful,
34:38
Speaker 1: you know. But it's just not gonna work no more.
34:42
Speaker 2: Is there any chance you would ever consider going back
34:46
Speaker 2: to the show? No, I will not be really girl.
34:51
Speaker 1: No, I'm not interested. It's not my type of show anymore.
34:56
Speaker 1: It's not my I've grown. I've grown from that, you know.
35:01
Speaker 1: I don't want to feel like people are always trying
35:05
Speaker 1: to make me seem less than what I am.
35:07
Speaker 2: Charmae. I want to just encourage you, because listen, one
35:11
Speaker 2: of the things about me being in this space is
35:16
Speaker 2: the fact that I am here to encourage people who
35:21
Speaker 2: look like you, who look like me right, You know
35:23
Speaker 2: what I mean when I say that black people in
35:25
Speaker 2: reality TV, because trust me, I know that it is
35:29
Speaker 2: a very tough position to be in and there's a
35:33
Speaker 2: lot of things that a black reality star I have
35:36
Speaker 2: to deal with that their white common parts would never understand.
35:41
Speaker 2: You know, people want to put the weight of Chicago
35:44
Speaker 2: on your back. People want to say you represent all
35:47
Speaker 2: black women. You know, even the idea of having to
35:50
Speaker 2: deal with colorism, like oh, you represent all light skinned
35:53
Speaker 2: women and how they interact with a darker skinned girl.
35:57
Speaker 2: You know, there's so much pressure that it takes being
35:59
Speaker 2: a black reality star that for me, I wanted you
36:03
Speaker 2: to hear out of my mouth that I'm here for you.
36:06
Speaker 2: I support you, and you are such a fantastic reality
36:10
Speaker 2: star that I don't want the one experience that you
36:15
Speaker 2: had to negate Two things a the beauty that you
36:20
Speaker 2: were able to deliver on the show, And that's why
36:24
Speaker 2: I appreciate you giving the show as flowers, we're saying,
36:28
Speaker 2: I have these great memories that you were always holding
36:30
Speaker 2: cherish And secondly, I don't want you to give up
36:34
Speaker 2: on continuing on reality TV, but I do want to
36:38
Speaker 2: ask you, like, are you done with reality TV. Are
36:41
Speaker 2: you like, what's next for you?
36:43
Speaker 1: So it's so funny because I saw your trailer with
36:47
Speaker 1: Monique and the thing that she said she has reality
36:51
Speaker 1: TV PTSD, and that is something that I've been telling
36:55
Speaker 1: the network, my lawyers, everybody, like I got PPSB. I
37:00
Speaker 1: can't be around no camera, you know, da da da
37:02
Speaker 1: da da. I will say that because I know the
37:06
Speaker 1: nature of what I was dealing with. I know that
37:09
Speaker 1: that isn't for me. But I do want to connect
37:13
Speaker 1: with my fans. Like I this is what I did
37:15
Speaker 1: for seven years. I didn't want to stop. I would
37:18
Speaker 1: love to continue to be on reality TV, and I
37:20
Speaker 1: would have I would have loved to continue to be
37:23
Speaker 1: on Black Ink if we could find a middle ground,
37:28
Speaker 1: you know, if if it didn't get so dangerous for me.
37:32
Speaker 1: But absolutely I hope that the opportunity comes to me
37:36
Speaker 1: to continue to do reality TV and to continue to
37:39
Speaker 1: connect with the fans, because I mean, when I tell you,
37:43
Speaker 1: even me announcing that I quit Black Ink, I've gotten
37:46
Speaker 1: so much support, you know. I feel like I have
37:48
Speaker 1: so much story to tell, you know. I'm on the
37:52
Speaker 1: radio every day. I'm a mama too. I have my
37:55
Speaker 1: loving husband, we have businesses. You know, we have family
38:00
Speaker 1: situations going on, and I am an open book. I
38:05
Speaker 1: am an easy person to connect with, it to have
38:08
Speaker 1: fun with. I'm not no hating ass female that it's
38:11
Speaker 1: hard to get along with other females and has an
38:13
Speaker 1: issue with, you know, a female that might be higher
38:16
Speaker 1: than her or bringing somebody down to be lower than me,
38:19
Speaker 1: like that's not me. So I would love to continue
38:23
Speaker 1: to be on reality TV. It's the right opportunity present itself,
38:28
Speaker 1: but the opportunity definitely is not going to be Black Ink.
38:33
Speaker 1: That ship has sailed and you know, I appreciate what
38:37
Speaker 1: it did for me, and you know I do love
38:40
Speaker 1: watching seasons one through four. That was great, but it's
38:44
Speaker 1: just not something that I would go back too.
38:48
Speaker 2: Well, Listen, I want to know I'm here for you. Thanks,
38:51
Speaker 2: and I really do appreciate you taking time out of
38:55
Speaker 2: your busy day being a mom of two to talk
38:57
Speaker 2: to me. And where can people I continue to follow you,
39:02
Speaker 2: connect with you and all the businesses and stuff you
39:05
Speaker 2: have going on the tell the people child.
39:07
Speaker 1: So follow me on the gram at Charmaine Bay b
39:12
Speaker 1: e Y. You can catch me on iHeartRadio WDCI. I
39:17
Speaker 1: am the Midday host one on seven point five every
39:20
Speaker 1: day from pennam to two pm. You know, everybody out
39:24
Speaker 1: there taking the sea moss. We got all the sea
39:27
Speaker 1: mass products from soap to obviously sea mass skin products, everything,
39:34
Speaker 1: so check that out beymas dot com and yeah.
39:41
Speaker 2: So look, I really enjoyed this conversation with Charmaine. One
39:47
Speaker 2: thing about this podcast, guys is you are going to
39:50
Speaker 2: get the exclusive, but you're also going to get it
39:53
Speaker 2: in a very deeper, meaningful way. One thing about reality
39:57
Speaker 2: TV is it can produce some great people, but also
40:01
Speaker 2: can make people feel like they have to be a
40:03
Speaker 2: certain way. And as you're watching where reality TV is
40:07
Speaker 2: going on, some shows, people are becoming way too over
40:11
Speaker 2: the top because they feel like that's what they have
40:14
Speaker 2: to be in order to stay on the show. So
40:17
Speaker 2: I really appreciated Charmain's honesty about recognizing that she was
40:23
Speaker 2: turning into someone she didn't like anymore, and in order
40:27
Speaker 2: for her to save her sanity, she had to remove
40:30
Speaker 2: herself from a situation in order to be a better
40:35
Speaker 2: wife and a better mother to her child. I salute you, Charmain.
40:39
Speaker 2: This is not the end of you. And my hope
40:42
Speaker 2: is that everybody who listened to this can now have
40:45
Speaker 2: a better understanding of you and the future that I'm
40:49
Speaker 2: pretty sure will be just as bright as it was
40:53
Speaker 2: when she walked into a live on Black Ink Crew Chicago.
40:58
Speaker 2: Thoughts of Onions Read about my conversation with Charmain. Email
41:05
Speaker 2: me at Reality with the King at stitcher dot com
41:09
Speaker 2: or leave me a voicemail at three one oho five
41:12
Speaker 2: ninety three eight one eight eight. Thank you for listening
41:17
Speaker 2: to Reality with the King. New episodes drop every Wednesday
41:21
Speaker 2: and Friday. Share, comment, follow, and subscribe to Reality with
41:27
Speaker 2: the King. Wherever you get your podcast, visit Realitywitheking dot
41:31
Speaker 2: com and be sure to follow me at v Carlos
41:34
Speaker 2: King underscore on Instagram and Twitter. Reality with the King
41:39
Speaker 2: is a production of More Sauce by Stitcher. It is
41:42
Speaker 2: executive produced by Me, Carlos King, and Jasmine Henley Brown.
41:47
Speaker 2: We are also produced by Sierra Spradley, Rix, engineering and
41:50
Speaker 2: music by Marcus Ham More Sauce