Source: Steven Ferdman / Getty
Welp, it looks like another reality TV star has failed to learn from former Big Brother contestant Luke Valentine, who got ousted from the show after using an anti-Black racial slur on camera and in the presence of his Black housemate.
Now, it’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Erica Mena whose head is on the chopping block.
The reality show franchise announced via social media Saturday that Mena will not be returning to the series after calling a Black cast member a “monkey,” which she has reportedly done in the past to other Black cast members. (Which is already weird since Mena, who is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, presents as at least partially Black herself.)
“The Love & Hip Hop franchise has never shied away from hard conversations in our community,” a rep for the show wrote in a statement. “Working hand-in-hand with our partners, viewers will see the impact of Erica Mena’s remarks play out in the final three episodes of the season. Effective immediately, she will not appear in the next season of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.”
Here’s what happened during the episode, according to People:
During the episode which aired on Aug. 29, Mena and Spice, born Grace Latoya Hamilton, were engaged in a heated argument that escalated when the 35-year-old actress flipped the table and the two women had to be separated by producers.
The explosive fight stemmed from a discussion about Mena’s divorce from ex Safaree Samuels, with whom she shares daughter Safire, 3, and son Legend, 2.
The two continued to exchange blows, with Spice, 41, shouting that her 16-year-old son King, whom she shares with ex Raul Conde, “hates” her. In response, Mena yelled, “You monkey, you f—— blue monkey!” Earlier in the episode, Mena said that Spice, who sports blue hair, “should have died.”
It used to be that the only thing likely to get a cast member kicked off a reality show was a physical assault on another cast member. It’s gratifying to see that verbal displays of racism can also get reality show star the boot now.
It’s worth mentioning that, according to Forbes, this wasn’t Mena’s first anti-Black rodeo. In 2015, she used the same racial slur to insult former Love & Hip Hop: New York costar Jhonni Blaze and several promoters by calling them “Black monkeys.” (Again, sis, find a mirror real quick.)
It’s about time there were consequences for anti-Blackness. See how X, formerly know as Twitter, is reacting below.
