Chika became the internet’s main character after a baby-bashing rant online about a crying toddler who belonged to T.I. and Tiny Harris’ daughter Zonnique Pullins.
Source: David Livingston/Prince Williams / Getty
On June 1, Chika took to Twitter to vent about babies disturbing her sleep on a flight. It’s an understandable annoyance for the sleep-deprived rapper, but she took it way too far. She thought it was better to blow off steam online rather than blow up in person, but one thing about the comments, they were not on Chika’s side.
Chika Rage-Tweets About A Woman And Two Crying Babies On Her Flight, Calling Them A “Stupid B*tch” And “Screaming Bastard”
In a thread that should’ve stayed in her drafts, Chika cursed out the woman and two children flying with them.
“To the lady next to me who thought it would be a good idea to buy yourself and your twin infants first class seats on a red-eye flight, who just woke me up by bringing your screaming bastard to OUR seats to soothe her, I just bought $34 Wi-Fi at 4 a.m. to call you a stupid b*tch,” she started.
“p.s., I hate you and I hope you get a paper cut between each finger tomorrow, you senseless wench.”
Chika comes under fire for angry Twitter rant about crying child on flight https://t.co/52WCdDrY0T pic.twitter.com/a5dsmWK4s4
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) June 2, 2023
No one handles crying babies well, especially while short on sleep. The rage-tweeting struck a nerve as she continued hating hard on the family flying together.
Everyone attributes their struggles as an adult to childhood trauma but nobody wants to give grace to children. Fascinating.
— ULOMA (@ulxma) June 3, 2023
She asked if the woman was “developmentally delayed” for thinking a 1-year-old “will shut their b*tch *ss up” on a 7-hour flight leaving at 1 a.m.
“You ALREADY had them up past bedtime. idc the circumstance. Take yo *ss to economy at LEAST. I’m so pissed off right now. I already had trouble falling asleep. And as soon as I do, you bring the consequence of YOUR promiscuity into MY life,” Chika tweeted.
“I got noise cancellation on and I STILL woke up. F*ck you, h*e. Choke,” she continued.
The dragging that followed was swift and nearly unanimous. Even those who extend Chika grace as a Black queer woman struggling with mental health issues called out her wi-fi wilding.
And while we are here…
Black kids experience too much abuse, negligence & mistreatment at the hands of adults for the “F*ck those kids”, jokes.
— Princess (@themultiplemom) June 3, 2023
The next day, the Nigerian-American star deleted her rant, and posted screenshots of a supporter checking the bad behavior. Chika apologized for the offense but doubled down on the way she handled it.
“Posting because I think it’s important & because I understand that people who actually do want to support me were also offended by my inflammatory thread yesterday. I’m sorry cuz it was triggering/infuriating to many. I just don’t like being seen as someone I’m not.” she wrote.
“I wasn’t cruel to anyone, I was mean *about* someone. Stop conflating the two and acting like I caused harm. I can own what I did, I will not own what is projected onto me. I’m sorry.”
yeah, what’s happening is not people holding chika accountable. chika doesn’t seem to have people in her life who do that, hence her doubling down.
however, when you bring disrespect on to public forum you risk the consequence of public disrespect. she’s facing consequences rn. https://t.co/NRlksS9xTn
— 5hahem aka Dr. Durag (@shaTIRED) June 4, 2023
The backtracking was too little, too late, and one of the toddlers’ famous mothers clapped back at Chika online.
Check out Tiny Harris and her daughter Zonnique Pullins reacting to Chika’s angry airplane rant after the flip!
Zonnique Pullins Entered The Chat To Check Chika For Trash-Talking Her Toddler On Twitter
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
The more Chika defended herself, the worse she made the situation. Eventually, one of the baby girls’ mothers came forward, and she’s from one of hip-hop’s first families. T.I. and Tiny Harris’ daughter Zonnique Pullins.
Lemme pop some popcorn because this can’t be for real 😭😭😭
Chika swore she was “giving grace” because the mother would never see her tweets.
Whole time the mother is mf’in ZONNIQUE!!! 😩😩😩
Gworllllllluhhhhshehsjdbfhsjsb
— Wahala If You Hear Me 🗣 (@eleven8) June 3, 2023
The OMG Girlz star took to Twitter with a response. She posted a clip of the two adorable toddlers looking at home in first class and quietly enjoying themselves.
wait I’m in tearssss not chika boo was mad my child was cutting up in first class😭😭😭😭 you should of just sat there and been mad babe..she sky priority af🤭 pic.twitter.com/PJpGE3zRUU
— baby spice (@Zonnique) June 3, 2023
Wait, I’m in tears. Not Chika boo was mad my child was cutting up in first class. You [should’ve] just sat there and been mad, babe. She sky priority AF,” the singer wrote.
So it was apparently Zonnique’s cousin on the plane flying with the kids. Like, none of this was okay & it was very unhinged. Because why are you talking about a Black woman & little Black kids like this?? The language she used was very coded tbh… pic.twitter.com/7JbuI58MH8
— Bella Goth ☀️ (@WickedNFine) June 3, 2023
Zonnique’s relative, Tamara Zachary, came forward as the woman flying with the toddlers. She explained immediately calming the kids after turbulence woke them up. Chika prided herself on being nice to them in person, but that backfired, too.
“Crazy sh*t was it was you in my ear saying ‘Those girls are so good’ before she woke up out of her sleep scared, crying,” Tamara wrote on Instagram.
“I appreciate all the things you wish for me and I can’t wait to see your *ss again in person, b*tch! You just mad a woman and two children could afford 1st class next to a peasant such as yourself. You a fake b*tch in person!”
Wait!!!!!! The mama was Zonnique?! Tiny and T.I’s child?! Chika went on a rant about her babies?! OMG!!! https://t.co/EKrA19gWwx pic.twitter.com/ZLh8JJHvhl
— Will Smith Slapped Me (@AshleyShyMiller) June 3, 2023
Of course, Tiny had to tag in about her “mf’n grand baby!”
“Yeah, she talking about my mf’n grand baby! Talking like she wasn’t supposed to be in first class or something! TF!!!”
This is why you buy a journal kids pic.twitter.com/LJxPqjQOLA
— Exquisite Armante’ (@ExquisiteWill) June 3, 2023
🗣️HEAVY ON THE AF!!!!!! https://t.co/IkOJe6j5Ow
— Tameka Harris (@TinyMajorMama) June 3, 2023
See Chika address the backlash and mental health issues she says fueled her Twitter fingers after the flip!
Chika Responds To Backlash By Citing Mental Health Episodes, But Twitter Called That Out As An “Excuse”
Source: Steve Granitz / Getty
The “Industry Games” rapper took to Instagram to address the mid-flight f*ckery. Chika admitted she was “real mean.” However, she still didn’t grasp that she could have several valid struggles and still be loud and wrong in this situation.
https://t.co/F6Pe0RXHqx pic.twitter.com/DogQCmFo3B
— Bean (@HELIOARIA) June 3, 2023
“Stay mad. Being upset at a person ranting about an annoying baby that woke them up at 4 a.m. is a cute way to make you feel like you’re morally superior to someone. You’re literally not. Like I’ve been saying, I wasn’t rude to her, and that’s what I’m good with. I have the decency to be mad externally somewhere else. My only mistake was doing it on Twitter,” she wrote in a post.
“I don’t feel bad because the response is disproportionate to the mistake. But, like… do your thing, internet. Y’all already ain’t like me. This ain’t nothing new.”
Chika’s comments were nasty as hell, but seeing that she was talking about a black mother & black babies like she was f*cking Ronald Reagan just ups the ante. Very nasty work.
— gabby.💐✨ (@xogabbyelle_) June 3, 2023
In a follow-up video, she said, “the double standards are f*cking crazy” for the way people harshly came at her for being too harsh. She opened up about the thoughts of self-harm and the manic episode she experienced that day.
A lot of Chika’s music is literally about her struggles as a little Black girl & now is just living out what was done to her, which is never okay. Mental health is serious, & as someone with manic episodes that does tweet through it, targeting folks ain’t it. It’s not an excuse.
— Daric L. Cottingham, M.A. (@DaricCott) June 3, 2023
She compared tweeting to her hundreds of thousands of followers to writing “a letter that I won’t send because I’m pissed and tired and manic.”
I want ALL OF YOU Chika Mental Health Warriors to explain to me what tf it’s called when someone lies about children being out of control on the plane..lied about paying for Wi-Fi to do so (it’s free Wi-Fi) lie about how long the child cried n did it UNPROVOKED online?!
TELL ME! pic.twitter.com/Zs5HtaO4A2
— Can I Peg You @Sethrogen ? (@MrsKhandiCoated) June 3, 2023
Critics pointed out that Chika has a habit of blaming her mental health struggles for inappropriately lashing out to avoid accountability.
“I don’t think that what I did was wrong. I think that what I said was mean. I meant to be mean in those moments because I was like, ‘If I don’t let all of this anger and rage out right now, I am literally going to have another panic attack on this plane,” she said.
In case y’all thought I was exaggerating, here’s the clip of Chika saying she would have tried to kill herself if she hadn’t called TI and Tiny grandbaby and daughter bastards and whores on Twitter pic.twitter.com/PZdvJt4e57
— nylah (@yumcoconutmilk) June 3, 2023
She justified the comments by claiming that cursing out the family online literally kept her off the ledge.
Chika claimed the alternative was to “do what the f*ck I did last year, which was get off that flight, find the highest point in the building, look down and be like, ‘I’m going to f*cking do it. I’m going to jump!’ That’s what the f*ck happens in manic episodes. You get crazy… Instead of that, I was like, ‘let me let this sh*t out.”
Chika also represents a problem we all need to regularly address: the unwillingness to log the fuck out for your own health.
— leeloo dallas multipass (@TyrannyBanks) June 3, 2023
This ain’t it! Zonnique’s sister Deyjah Harris called Chika out as someone who also battles with “depression, anxiety, self-harm.” Deyjah sympathized with Chika, but added “there is no accountability being taken on your end.”
i just happened to be scrolling and i saw this video 😬 i know it’s long and i know nobody cares (let alone her) about anything i have to say but /; when mental health is brought up, i have something to say🫤 https://t.co/E69NAjdMne pic.twitter.com/OXz7OIPE2A
— Deyjah Harris🤎 (@yafavdeyj) June 4, 2023
Whew, Chicka better chill and work these issues out in private. The Harris family clearly isn’t having it and neither is the internet.
Check out Chika’s last words on the matter in full below:
What do you think of how Chika handled the backlash after bashing Zonnique Pullins’ baby online? Should people take it easy on Chika or did she f*ck around and find out?
