Atlanta rapper Gunna dropped his new video for the single “Bachelor” from his recent “Gift & A Curse” album. The video, directed by Spike Jordan, dropped on Thursday, Jan. 18, and featured an all-star lineup of video vixens including Rosa Acosta, Eboni Jackson, Tammy Torres, LaNisha Cole, KD Aubert, Esther Baxter, Sasha Lee, and Bria Myles, who made their mark in rap music in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Noticeably missing were two names from that era: Melyssa Ford, co-host of “The Joe Budden Podcast,” and Karrine Steffans, who transitioned from video girl to author, writing the best-selling tell-all book “Confessions of a Video Vixen.”
Steffans gained fame for revealing candid accounts of her intimate relationships with many celebrity men such as Lil Wayne, Bobby Brown, Darius McCrary, and Kool G Rap, to name a few earning her the nickname “Superhead.”
The idea behind Gunna’s music video was recently discussed on “The Joe Budden Podcast,” which is known to be the petri dish for entertainment drama and didn’t disappoint to keep stuff festering after Ford weighed in.
Why Not Karrine Steffans? She Wasn’t One of Us
“I’m not in it,” she said while talking about the video on the show. Ford then read an email on her phone from Jordan, stating that she was “the first woman” he thought of to help pay “homage” to video vixens. The 47-year-old stated that he reached out to her last November but she turned it down for her podcast gig.
Still, both women, who have been featured in dozens of docu-series about video vixens, were not included. Ford appeared to be ticked off when her male co-hosts bemoaned “Superhead” not being featured in the video, calling her one of the first premier video vixens of that time.
“Name a music video that you know of her in,” Ford dared her co-hosts with a snarl of disgust on her face, and later adding, “She wasn’t me, she wasn’t Buffy, she wasn’t Esther, she wasn’t Rosa.”
Melyssa Ford is insulted after someone says Superhead (Karrine Steffans) is a video vixen and should’ve been in Gunna’s video
— Glock Topickz (@Glock_Topickz) January 24, 2024
“Name a video you know of her in… She wasn’t me, she wasn’t Buffy, she wasn’t Esther, she wasn’t Rosa” https://t.co/vN8cPAUbFY pic.twitter.com/Ge9NHzAy5K
As the co-hosts, Queenzflip, Lamar “Ice” Burney and Antwan “Ish” Marby named other music videos that Steffans appeared in, Budden asked them to not stop “Mel’s hate.”
Is Mel’s Hate Real?
Fans in the comments online saw Ford’s remarks as hate, even though some said she wasn’t wrong.
“Melissa sounds like a hater ngl. Imagine trying to discredit someone’s claim to fame to feel more important about your legacy as a “vixen”. This the IG models 15 years from now,” one X user wrote.
“Mel is hater. And if she’s not the center of attention she steps on it or hates; She’s always acting like she for ‘women empowerment’ but every chance she get she is shading another woman or model on the show,” another commented. “First it was her beef/dislike with Pebbles, now it’s Superhead.”
When asked if there was a bit of “hate” in her harsh remarks about Steffans, Ford replied, “Maybe … maybe.”
The hate “Mel” allegedly has for Steffans (and she for her) has been well documented.
Almost a decade ago, while appearing on “The Breakfast Club” with DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Yee, Ford talked about how people at one point could not separate her work as a video vixen from what Steffans talked about in her book.
The Snuffleupagus of Video Vixens
One aspect that frustrated Ford was the difficulty in establishing a clear line between her professional work and the narratives presented in Steffans’ book. She also hated that the “Confessions of a Video Vixen” dared to paint Steffans as the authority in the vocation when no one even knew her.
She said, “Here’s the craziest part: Karrine, I’m sure that, personally, she’s a lovely girl, I don’t know her personally. … Here’s the truth of the matter, when I was on video sets no one knew who this girl was. I thought she was the Snuffleupagus. I thought she was an urban myth; I didn’t think she existed because I didn’t know anyone that had ever seen her before.”
Ford added, “Her name just floated around like this big mystery. Then this book came out and it defined an entire group! Like all video vixens – hoes. I was just like, ‘Hold on, your story and mine are two very, very different stories.’”
In 2021, while interviewing on “Drink Champs,” Ford explained the root of her resentment for Steffans was that the book made it hard for her and other women in the industry to be respected.
“That book was the worst thing to happen to the music video industry, especially to women,” she said. “The book put a mark on every girl that we are all just like her. That was wildly inaccurate.”
“I was like, ‘Girl, just because you were paid to be with an artist in their trailer doesn’t mean we were all paid to do the same thing,’” the Canadian-born influencer said.
Steffans Claps Back at Ford
The bad blood goes both ways. In 2018, after Ford was in a horrible accident, Steffans hopped into a comment on social media about the accident, where the model suffered a fractured skull, severe lacerations and bruises, and bleeding on the brain.
The “Danger” music video star blasted her for allegedly misrepresenting herself.
One person wrote in part about the accident, “It’s so sad to here about what’s going on with @melyssaford and her almost deadly accident she was evolved in the other day. I don’t know about any of the other video girls during her time; but I do know that she was and still is very beautiful, classy, sexy, and well respected.”
“She could teach these girls a thing or two,” the person continued, adding that she “managed to keep her dignity and respect” while working in the industry.
Steffans replied, “Just because a girl pretends she hasn’t been ran through, doesn’t mean she hasn’t been ran through.”
She later posted on her Instagram Story, “I don’t care if nobody likes me or if everybody loves me. None of it is of any consequence to me.”
Steffans continued, “That being said, don’t ever be fake sad or fake happy for me, because I will never be fake sad or fake happy for you. I don’t give a f—k about your car accident if all you ever did was talk s—t about me for the past 15 years.”
She added, “Be blessed. Whatever. It’s none of my concern. What I’m not going to do, however, is fake care.”
Steffans has not responded to Ford’s most recent remarks.
