A tattooist has been criticized after he gave a permanent tattoo to a little girl in a video that has now gone viral online.
According to a social media post posted by the artist, he tattooed an American flag on the girl who was accompanied by her parents, when she was nine. A video posted by the artist shows the young girl getting tattooed at the shop. The Instagram video states that her parents brought the girl to Yuma from out of state.
The girl originally wanted a tattoo of Donald Trump on her neck, but the artist said in the post that he convinced her to get something more patriotic, like an image of an American flag. A year later, the girl now 10, came back for a touch-up of the tattoo.
'But I convinced her to do a more patriotic tattoo. Told her in a year if she still wanted the Trump then to get in but to think on it.'Client came back one year later saying, "I'm 10 now, can you touch up the red" unexpectedly and you know we got her right.
'She also changed her mind on the Trump portrait.'
'Btw tried to scare them away with saying $500 for this snap $80 tat but they jumped on that price instead.'
The video sparked a debate online from people criticizing the tattoo shop.
The footage, which appeared on the artist's social media, included the sound of multiple Instagram notifications, a sign of what was to come.
Commenting on TikTok, one person wrote: 'You are extremely unprofessional. Any artist with common sense would have refused her.'
Caiti commented: 'When I was 19 I couldn't get a hand tattoo without a sleeve so I knew I was "committed". Now you dudes are out here tattooing nine-year-olds. Scummy sh*t.
A commenter, Ava said: 'This is actually crazy, you can refuse service to anyone. Trying to say you tried to turn them away with a high price is nothing. I was turned away at 16 with parent consent.'
In his initial post, the artist said: 'Here in Arizona it is legal to [tattoo a child] with parent consent and of course making sure it's not forced and that the child loves the tattoo.'
'It's not like I tattoo nine-year-olds every day', Sosa, who doesn't tattoo his own kids, later told AZFamily.
'[The girl's family are] very grateful for being here in the United States, they saw Donald Trump as a hero.'
Arizona is one of the least regulated states, with no license required to be a tattoo artist, according to Ben Shaw, of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists.
While it may be legal, Mr Shaw doesn't believe this makes it ethical, WBTV reports.
He said: 'It can give us professionals a bad reputation. If you see a 10-year-old child with a professional tattoo and they say they got it at a tattoo shop, that degrades us as a whole
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