The Truth About Black Ink Crew Star Ceaser Emanuel And Karlie Redd's Relationship
Black Ink Crew's Ceaser Emanuel and Sky Days have so much beef with their fellow castmates that love, loyalty, and betrayal on the reality television series no longer have watchers thinking, "E tu, Brute?" Rather, we're all just riding the wave with the two best friends as they navigate lawsuits, broken hearts, strained relationships, and other drama together.
For Ceaser, that drama includes love-life pains. The show's many seasons prove the Black Ink owner to be a sucker for the ladies, but not one of them has stuck around for the long haul. In early 2020, the tattoo artist shared that he's now looking for a different kind of quality in his partners, with an emphasis on inner beauty in addition to outer, for his daughter's sake.
"My daughter is at the point where I have to bring home somebody that she could actually look up to besides her mother. 'My dad can't just be dating thots no more. He has to bring home an attractive woman,' so she could sit there and be like 'Dad, you did good.' Right now, under her eyes, she ain't giving approval so I've gotta keep looking," he told Tiffany Pollard on Brunch With Tiffany (via Cheat Sheet), adding that he's looking for loyalty and a "go-getter" attitude.
Considering we've seen him go through eight seasons' worth of breakups, it's about time Ceaser switches up his strategy. And it's no doubt that his previous, but short-lived partner Karlie Redd pushed him over the edge.
Karlie and Ceaser had a short, but bitter relationship
When Karlie Redd and Ceaser Emanuel first linked up, the Black Ink owner had just shifted locations to Atlanta where he was opening up shop. But the two split up almost as fast as they became an item, and it all went down over drama with Sky Days. According to Ceaser's account, his and Karlie's breakup was triggered after a birthday party for Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss, where Sky brought Karlie's sworn enemy, Tommie Lee.
In an interview with VH1 in 2017, Ceaser explained that while Sky and Tommie were "wild cool" (which explains why they attended the party together), Karlie felt "some type of way" about the two's relationship and that's when "it all erupted." "It was just a whole messy little situation," he claimed.
Here's exactly what happened during the explosion: "Karlie was acting funny to [Sky]. [Sky] approached her like, 'Hey, wassup girl?' 'Cause [Karlie] was just at my house," Ceaser said. "That's why it's so funny cause the way she was acting it was like you don't know Sky, so [she was] like, 'Yo, whatup sis?' [Karlie's] like, 'Heyyyy who you came here with?' [Sky's] like 'Tommie,' and then she must've said something to Sky like 'bad move' or something like that and they got into it so from then it's just been you know been a whole little riff."
But there could be more to the story than Ceaser is letting on...
Was Ceaser disloyal to Karlie?
Lady #1 gets into a fight with Lady #2 over Lady #3. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. While Ceaser Emanuel's explanation sounds straightforward, there's likely a second side to consider. Ceaser even hinted at it during the interview with VH1, when the outlet asked the reality television star whether he and Tommie Lee (Karlie Redd's archnemesis) spent time together alone. "Um, I wouldn't say we never kicked it alone," he responded. And in a later response, he admitted to using Karlie to get around. "I could go buy me a car if I want," Ceaser said. "But I had Uber named Karlie Redd so... I ain't need a car."
This account lines up quite closely with Karlie's experience, which Dallas Black speculated on in 2017 in an article titled, "Was Tommie Lee Sleeping With Ceaser While Karlie Redd Waited Outside His House To Pick Him Up?" after Tommie and Karlie got into the weeds of their differences on-screen. What surfaced was the possibility that Ceaser may have slept, or almost slept, with Tommie when Karlie and Ceaser were still together. According to the article, Karlie had just rolled into Ceaser's driveway when one of his friends snitched that he and Tommie were in the bottom floor of his house "about to smash."
When the possibility was brought up on the show, Tommie laughed in Karlie's face and never denied it.
A history of friction between Karlie and Tommie
If it's true that Ceaser Emanuel was disloyal to Karlie Redd with Tommie Lee, it would make sense that Karlie and Tommie would've fostered bitterness that eventually led to Karlie and Ceaser's split. And what's more, Karlie and Tommie butting heads doesn't seem like a new thing. Rather, it's possible their differences over the men they date began way before Ceaser even entered the picture and that the latest incident is just an escalation of old wounds.
According to Karlie's account to VH1 in 2016, Tommie has been coming for her ever since rumors started that Karlie slept with Tommie's ex, Scrapp. Karlie admitted there was drama after Scrapp instigated things. "He was like, 'We was in the hotel,' but no, dude, we never f**ked. We never had sex. You know a man gonna pump it," Karlie explained. "We did massages and what happened next he made it seem like we had sex but we never had sex." While Karlie insisted Scrapp didn't cheat on Tommie with her, Karlie said Tommie is "pumping it up like we did."
And although Tommie has said in the past that she wouldn't use her body to seek revenge for what another woman did, it's possible that Tommie's potential affair with Ceaser was payback for the rumors that swirled around Karlie and Scrapp — which means Ceaser was just collateral damage in a long war between the women.