Evelyn Lozada kicked off the Feb. 9 season 9 premiere of “Basketball Wives” by talking about fearing for her safety following the backlash from Ogom “O.G.” Chijindu’s colorism comments during season 8. Lozada discussed the situation with “BBW” newbie Feby Torres while they were hanging out in Lozada’s home.

The mother of two mentioned she wanted to move to a gated community as Torres complimented Lozada’s kitchen backdrop. She said, “I want more security. Last year [actually 2019], I feel like there was so much going on with O.G. The whole racism conversation started taking a world of its own.”

During the confessional, Lozada addressed those claims made against her during the season 8 reunion: “O.G. made claims that there was racism and colorism within the group.”

Lozada added that the allegations intensified on social media after she uploaded a post of a laughing monkey emoji with the caption “Nobody watches you harder than the people that can’t stand you.” The former professional football player assumed the post was about her, given its timing. 

“She continued on social media because of a post that I made. … If you go to make a post and you go to gifs and search laughing, it’s [the monkey emoji] one of the first four that pops up. I put it there to express my feeling of this post. So she [O.G.] went into this spiral of ‘You bigot, you posted this about me. You racist.’”

The Bronx native reiterated that the upload and the chosen gif had nothing to do with Chijindu, saying she doesn’t attach the monkey emoji to “anybody.” 

Lozada tearfully explained as Torres tried to console her, “I don’t connect that to anybody. I’m just emotional cause it’s like I would be talking about my kids. … It really hurt because people really believe in this s–t.”

The 45-year-old described how she received death threats following the backlash. “People went in my DMs talking about ‘B—h, I’m gonna f—ing kill you. Or If I see you, I’m gonna kill you and your kids.”

Lozada said she was forced to save all of the messages and send them to her lawyer because of the threats’ magnitude. She then admitted to Torres she filed a defamation suit against Chijindu for ruining her “livelihood,” saying, “I had no choice but to protect myself against the lies.” 

Despite the reality star’s explanation, fans of the hit VH1 series ridiculed Lozada.

“She already crying and we one episode in like dammm.”

“OMGGGGGGGG EVELYN!!!! Stop with BS victim s–t. You tried to bully OG like you ALWAYS do to people you think you’re better than or find unattractive. It backfired this time cuz we are TIRED of your mean girl BS. Maaan move around with this .”

“Evelyn scary asf now she can dish it but can’t take it like girl bye!!”

“Evelyn stop it. U did that on purpose and it backfires and here we go again. She is playing the victim. Now we cryin fake tears. U did that on purpose.”

Chijindu talked about the suit —initially filed in 2019 alongside a restraining order — later in the episode while hanging out with “BBW” co-star Jackie Christie.  

The 35-year-old said, “I never defamed anyone. The only thing I said was a person was a racist because they exhibited those characteristics that I witnessed. Therefore I had a right to put that on my personal social media.” 

Chijindu further elaborated that Lozada slandered herself by her actions. “If anybody defamed anyone, it was her defaming herself.”

When Christie tried to mediate the situation by asking Chijindu if the issue at hand with Lozada was a “colorism or racism” problem instead of just a personality clash, she replied, “No, she definitely encompasses all the qualities of somebody with a colorism issue.”

She clarified when asked why she felt that way, “Because when you are calling somebody ugly when you are calling somebody a monkey. All those things are not only colorist issues. They become racist.”

Since the lawsuit both women have seen significant changes in their lives. Lozada was baptized and became focused on giving back to her community, while Chijindu concentrated on family life and settling down with her boyfriend, basketball player Kwame Alexander, as she builds her new home.