Erica Mena is catching heat online for her racial slur meltdown on the latest episode of Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta.
During the explosive episode Aug. 29, the mother, model and actress called her former friend turned foe Spice a “blue monkey” after she got into a heated argument with the Jamaican dancehall artist over lunch.
The incident popped off when Mena asked Spice if she received “voice notes” from her ex-husband, Safaree, alleging she was “upset” about the way her former hubby showed Spice support during her near-fatal hospitalization from a sepsis illness in October 2022.
When the “Go Down Deh” artist asked Mena if she had a problem with her baby daddy’s warm embrace during her darkest hour, the mother of three said she wasn’t upset. But the model admitted that her former lover’s reaction stung a bit considering that she “almost lost” her life during the birth of their son, Legend Samuel in 2021. Mena claimed that the Jamaican rapper showed little to no support during her risky delivery.
“When I told Safaree what was going on with you, his reaction was, ‘Oh my god, I wouldn’t know what would happen to me if something happens to Spice!’ And I said, ‘Well, damn. I was your wife pregnant, almost lost my life and our baby. In a really dark time, I was in the hospital which the whole world saw.”
Spice wasn’t trying to hear it.
During an intense clapback, the dancehall queen told Mena that it wasn’t fair for her to “compare” their tough life events. The Grammy-nominated star also called the Latina celeb out on her victim mentality. “The problem is Erica, I feel like you’re acting like you’re the first woman to be divorced. And you’re the first woman that’s left with two children to fend for. I’ve been doing it for 14 years. Welcome to the club.”
That’s when the conversation went completely left. Mena claimed that she had been raising all three of her children independently for over 16 years. In addition to baby Legend, the former video vixen shares her daughter, Safire Majesty, with Safaree. She is also a mom to her eldest son, King Javien, who is from a previous relationship.
The fiery confrontation burst into flames when Spice claimed Mena’s eldest son didn’t like her. In response, Mena angrily flipped the table over on the Jamaican musician and wished death upon the mother of two. “That bitch should’ve died!” she screamed. Spice fired back, “Your son hates you, b***h!” to which Mena racistly replied, “You monkey, you f*****g blue monkey!” She also shouted monkey sounds at the singer as she was escorted out of the restaurant.
Now, as a Latina woman, Mena should know that the horrid trope was used as a way to dehumanize Black people during the American slave trade. We weren’t thought of as human, but as subhuman, an animal that could be sold off, manipulated and controlled.
In Fredrick Douglass’ 1845 memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the famous freedom fighter broke down the treatment of Black people as chattel.
“We were all ranked together at the valuation. Men and women, old and young, married and single, were ranked with horses and men, cattle and women, pigs, and children, all holding the same rank in the scale of being and were all subject to the same narrow examination,” the abolitionist penned.
What in the world was she thinking!?
Mena knew damn well what she was saying when the slur came spewing out of her mouth, and many Black users on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, agreed.
After Tuesday’s episode of Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta aired, angry netizens flooded the app to call out the reality TV star. Black viewers slammed Mena, calling her “disgusting” and “racist” for weaponizing the word monkey toward Spice. One user couldn’t believe that the mother of three had the audacity to call Spice a monkey on a show that airs to “a predominately Black audience.”
Other naysayers lit into Mena, for looking down on Black women like Spice, despite having close ties to Black culture. “These types of women want to marry blk men, wanna dress like us, wanna talk like us, want to be around us, want children that look like us but in their heart thinks we’re below them. Erica Mena is a prime example of that,” a user named Asha penned.
Sadly, some fans came rushing in to defend the Latina celeb. Those in favor of the New York native’s racist meltdown argued that Spice should have kept Mena’s son’s name out of her mouth if she didn’t want any smoke. Other users tried to justify the Latina reality TV star’s anti-Black remark, arguing that because she’s allegedly Afro-Latina, it was okay for her to yell out the racist trope.
Look, let’s call it what it is, Mena was being anti-Black no matter how you want to slice it. Spice definitely overstepped a boundary mentioning the star’s son, but anti-Blackness is never justifiable. Now, the whole world sees Mena for her true colors, and it doesn’t look pretty.
The 35-year-old actress has yet to respond publicly about her embarrassing outburst, but her Love & Hip-Hop cast mate, Shekinah Anderson, who was also present during the fiery confrontation, wasn’t happy to hear the matriarch yell the hurtful slur, especially as a mother of two Jamaican children.
“Erica I cannot believe you, you just called this girl a monkey and then said she should’ve died. What type of shit is this? You have Jamaican children. Would you like if someone called your children monkeys? You shouldn’t have did that Erica. That was out of line,” Shekinah said during a confessional Tuesday.
How did you react after Tuesday’s episode of Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta? Tell us in the comments section.
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