VH1 decides to 'cut ties' with the 43-year-old tattoo shop owner after a leaked clip shows him proceeding to hit the canine with a chair while forcing the pup to get out of the house.
- Jun 24, 2022
AceShowbiz - Ceaser Emanuel will no longer appear on "Black Ink Crew New York". The reality star and tattoo shop owner has been fired from VH1's long-running show after a video of him abusing a dog surfaced online.
On Thursday, June 23, VH1 released a statement via Facebook that read, "We have made the decision to cut ties with Ceaser Emanuel from 'Black Ink Crew New York'." The post continued, "Since next season was close to finishing production, this decision will not impact the upcoming season."
VH1's decision to axe Ceaser from the show came after a clip that saw him allegedly abusing a dog went viral. The said footage, which seemed to be captured by a neighbor's Ring security camera, showed a man putting a dog in a cage and then kicking the cage along with the dog down a hill. He's also seen scaring the dog out of the house and kicking the dog, before proceeding to hit the dog with a foldable chair multiple times.
Though the face of the man in the video cannot be seen, Ceaser's co-star Donna Lombardi appeared to confirm his identity as she responded to the video. Reposting the footage on her Instagram page, she called out Ceaser as writing, "If you can treat a dog like this, this shows how sick of a person you truly are. I don't even get into the life of this man, but this video made me so upset. Anyone who knows me, know I LOVE animals. Especially dogs."
Ceaser's lawyer, Walter Mosley, didn't dispute it was his client in the clip but insisted that it's an old video and that Ceaser was stopping the canine from attacking other animals. "Ceaser is an avid dog lover and has many dogs and has had in his lifetime, many dogs and other pets," Walter said. "This was an unfortunate situation as I understand it, where there were a number of other aggressive dogs attacking smaller dogs and probably was a lapse of judgment as to how to appropriately break it up, break up that interaction."
"In some ways, what was not seen in that video, was him protecting the smaller dogs, he just likely didn't do this in the best way, so he's seeking assistance and help to make sure that as a dog owner, he's properly managing it, and understands how to interact in more healthy ways with all types of dogs and all of his dogs," the attorney added, "but this is certainly a situation that he had addressed a long time ago."
"It's unfortunate that a video that's probably almost a year old or older surfaced and created such a disruption," Walter went on saying. "It's something that we've addressed and been addressing for some time."
Following Ceaser's firing, Milan Christopher, who has starred in VH1's other hit series "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood", took issue with the network acting swiftly to protect an animal while allegedly exploiting black people through their programming.
"So @vh1 a black man can be convicted of attempted murder, robbery, drug charges, assault, assault w/ a deadly weapon against other blacks- hell 2 can literally beat each other senseless every Monday on your shows BUT LET THEM HIT A DOG - y'all don't want to do business with them?" he wrote on social media.
Milan added that "this a prime example" of how an animal's life is viewed to be more valuable to "white people in America than black peoples lives." He also called out the network for maintaining a relationship with Ceaser long after the allegations of abuse against his daughter surfaced.
"@vh1 y'all kept filming & doing business with him even after his own daughter came forward about her abuse.. Like make it make sense stinks her abuse wasn't enough for you guys?" Milan continued criticizing. "It was the dogs abuse that did it huh?"
