Erica Mena has called out “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” for excluding her in their racism and colorism roundtable discussion weeks after she was dropped from the franchise. Her termination from the reality series followed after she called her Jamaican cast mate Spice a “blue monkey.”
Their intense argument was featured in the episode that aired on Tuesday, Aug. 29. During what was supposed to be a calm sit-down conversation Spice suggested that Mena’s eldest son hated her, prompting the “Picture Me Dead” star to spew the derogatory statement.
Once the episode premiered, viewers quickly bashed Mena’s controversial comments and shamed MTV for airing the verbal catfight. Not even a week after her remark, “LHH” released a statement announcing their decision to part ways with the mother of three.
Additionally, MTV felt it was necessary to hold a special episode titled “Love & Hip Hop: Racism, Colorism, and the Uncomfortable Truth,” with colorism expert Dr. Sarah L. Webb as the host. The network also included “LHH” alums Lil Scrappy, Yung Joc, Sierra Gates, Yandy Smith, Amy Luciani, and Spice in the conversation.
After the roundtable discussion was announced on the media franchise’s Instagram, Mena shared a few thoughts about being excluded.
“I think it’s absolutely fair that I speak under this post. Especially because I was indeed filming nonstop for seven months after the actual incident between me and that other individual happened,” she wrote.
Mena’s lengthy message also suggested that “LHH” continued to willingly “film with me” and claimed that as the reason why “I was used as the base storyline for the whole second half of this actual season.”
She also noted that the highly-discussed footage has been with “LHH” for months and the company “edited it how they wanted and aired it.”
“It’s only now they are desperate trying to save face and using me to so. If I’m being used to set an example why was I not apart of this ‘round table’ discussion? Why are they so desperate to film nonstop right now to make up for everything I shot that they can’t use now,” Mena penned.
The “Where Do I Go From Here” songstress proceeded to call the “Love & Hip Hop” franchise “desperate” and claimed that they were only doing the roundtable because of the flack they received, “Not because they truly believed what I said was a racial slur.”
She also suggested that a “mockery” was being made from the situation and called out Smith for supposedly using the term “monkey” as an insult back in 2015.
“Messy Yandy herself in 2015 at Hot97 on air called me ‘an a– monkey’ – to try and save face for this network’s sponsors is pathetic.”
The New York native also said that if the network truly cared about colorism and racism, they would’ve involved her and Spice in the discussion.
She closed her vent session, writing, “I gave this franchise 13 years, and now they need to save face so they are gonna wear my name out on this to make up for their F–k up. The Sad truth in all of this – this Franchize has always depicted us as zoo animals anyway.”
Mena then shouted out her “supporters” and sent love their way.
Per RadarOnline, Mena’s rep, Steve Honig, found it “disappointing” that she wasn’t asked to participate in the conversation.
“The network chose to silence her voice,” Honig said.
During the 53-minute roundtable talk, which aired after the show’s season 11 finale, the six reality stars spoke on Mena’s written apology that was shared on her Instagram page. While speaking on her statement, Spice noted that she has no interest in receiving a direct apology from Mena because “I know it’s not gonna come from a place of sorry.”
“You can’t just apologize because your pocket is being affected,” she said at the 53:52 mark. Spice then added, “You gotta really mean it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the “So Mi Like It” artist disputed the accusations of her speaking negatively about Mena’s son.
“I vividly want to point out and make sure that everyone is aware that I did not come for her child,” Spice said. She also noted how frequently cast mates come for one another’s “parenting.”
Though she denied talking about Mena’s son, Spice did take “full accountability” for questioning Mena’s role as a mother. The Grammy-nominated artist also suggested that Mena chose to take the racist “route” with her rebuttal when she could’ve said anything else.
