Actress and former ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ star Erica Mena is recalling her “blue monkey” incident with former ‘Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta’ castmate and Dancehall icon Spice.
Erica Mena Apologizes After ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ Firing Over Spice ‘Blue Monkey’ Comment
As we previously shared, Mena received tons of backlash and was ultimately fired after comments made towards Spice on an August 2023 episode of ‘LHH: ATL.’ After the 12th episode of the season 11 aired, production released a statement. The statement noted that Mena would not be returning for the following season of the show.
“The Love & Hip Hop franchise has never shied away from hard conversations in our community. 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.”
Days after Mena’s firing, she apologized for her “insensitive comment.” Mena, who shares a daughter and a son with Jamaican-descendant artist and ‘Love & Hip-Hop‘ star Safaree Samuels, said:
“I deeply regret my insensitive comment and want to humbly apologize to anybody I hurt or offended by my thoughtlessness. My choice of words was wrong, and I take full responsibility for what I said. I am committed to listening to the voices of those affected and will work toward making amends. As a woman of color and the mother of two black children, I want to make it clear that my use of that word was not in any way racially driven. That said, I do understand the gravity of what I said and want to use my platform to promote inclusivity and equality.”
Erica Mena Recalls Spice ‘Blue Monkey’ Comment 2 Years After ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ Firing
Two years after the Puerto Rican and Dominican reality star-turned-actress called the Jamaican-born artist a “blue monkey” during a fight after her son was mentioned, she’s again addressing the incdient. While appearing on ‘The Nene Leakes Show,’ Mena recalled the controversy and clapped back at critics.
Host Nene Leakes asked Mena about how she felt going through that moment and having now moved on from it. Mena thanked Leakes, “an African-American woman who’s been scrutinized as much as she had on TV.” She added:
“Yeah [I’ve moved on]. Anyone who’s ever had a real moment with me in life will know, yeah that was wrong, but that’s not like—what you’re trying to say about her is not right.
It was a trying time, obviously, because you got a chance to see who was who, what was what. [People] want to be so political. I think what makes it scary for people, believe it or not, is people being authentic in any kind of way. Then they get attacked on social media and there’s this quick, ‘Oh, let’s cancel. Let’s cancel.’ And people are quick to throw that ‘cancel’ thing out there.
At the end of the day, no matter what you guys say in the comments, God has his plan for everybody individually. So, even in the trying times where on TV, we may do something that’s unfortunate and probably not the best of who we are, that doesn’t mean that someone’s life is completely over just because the world feels some type of way.
Honestly, it was a catch 22 because it was 50% of people on her and 50% of people on me. It was even down the middle. But even putting two women, who shouldn’t even been in the situation in the first place, against each other, it’s always kind of unfortunate. But, at the same time, it’s like it’s part of the game. You just kind of have to stand firm on who you are.”
RELATED: Erica Mena Says Spice ‘Will Never Have The Guts’ To Apologize To Her For Bringing Up Her Child
Erica Mena Calls Out Selective Outrage 2 Years After Spice ‘Blue Monkey’ Comment
Erica Mena proceeded to applaud her close friend and ‘Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta‘ star Bambi, born Adizia Benson. Mena gave Bambi her props for defending her despite being thrown in the backlash with her, to this day. Leakes asked Mena, a Latina, if she “feels like she got a pass” against being completely cancelled because she’s not Black. She replied:
“I don’t think there’s a pass or anything like that. I think it’s genuinely wrong. I don’t want to point fingers, but I’ve [seen] women who are really White on ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ saying the n-word. Not saying it’s right, because, obviously, growing up in New York, the ‘n-word’ is kind of like used like ‘homie.’ I feel like, whatever.
But, I have been viral for years when I did the scene with Rich Dollaz and he gave away my song. I was like, ‘You can’t trust nobody. Not even the n-word that you’re sleep with.’ That was so viral. It went all over the place for years, and years, and years and years. I’m not saying it’s right, but I definitely said the n-word in that, and it was never an issue then.”
Erica Mena continued to recall the “blue monkey” incident with Spice. She called out selective outrage while also mentioning the Dancehall artist’s bleaching campaign. Note: it was employed to bring awareness to harmful skin bleaching in the Jamaican and Caribbean culture. She said:
“At the end of the day, you got another woman, who’s obviously a lot darker than me. She came at me in regards to my son. And a word that has been used to racially defame, or belittle a race at one point in time, was used. It wasn’t said because I was racist. I said it because it was more of an appearance thing. It wasn’t skin related at all.
I say all that to say that people have selective outrage. This is the same woman you guys are going so hard for, but she literally went viral—or should I say had a whole media campaign, about becoming a White woman and how proud she was to bleach her skin. I don’t even know what her M.O. was at the time. But, it just goes to show you people just, at the end of the day, have selective outrage. I feel like it was because of me. I’m used to being kind of hated one week and then [rooted for the next].”
#Socialites, be sure to check out the post below, then leave us your thoughts in a comment after!