‘Love & Hip Hop’ Cuts Erica Mena: Here’s What To Know About The Controversy

Forbes Business Breaking ‘Love & Hip Hop’ Cuts Erica Mena: Here’s What To Know About The Controversy Brian Bushard Forbes Staff I cover breaking news for Forbes Following Sep 2, 2023, 02:26pm EDT | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Updated Sep 2, 2023, 02:28pm EDT Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Erica Mena, a controversial former music video model who has sparred with co-stars on the hit MTV series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta , was released from the show on Saturday, after calling her Black co-star a racial slur. Erica Mena attends Atlanta Whether Celebrity Block Party with Erica Mena on September 4, 2021. WireImage Key Facts Mena will not appear in the upcoming season of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta , the series announced in a post on X, saying: “Viewers will see the impact of Erica Mena’s remarks play out in the final three episodes of the season.

” Mena, one of six co-stars in the MTV series, sparked controversy on the set of the show when she called Spice, a co-star and singer known as the “Queen of Dancehall,” a “monkey”—reiterating a racial slur against Black people that has been used, offensively, in sports , schools and politics . In a clip from the show’s 11th season, Mena—who is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent and whose ex-husband Safaree Samuels is Black—entered into a conversation that quickly became heated, resulting in Mena flipping a table onto Spice before being separated by producers and calling Spice a “blue monkey” (Spice has blue hair). In a Facebook Live video posted after the incident, Spice accused Mena of talking “s**t” behind her back, calling Mena “fake.

” Mena had previously been criticized for allegedly calling “Love & Hip Hop: New York” star Jhonni Blaze a “monkey,” and in 2015 was accused of calling a group of promoters “Black monkeys” Chief Critic The use of a monkey as a racial slurs against Black people dates back more than a hundred years. In recent years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has condemned the use of the term in an array of settings, including in high school sports after a Black student in California was greeted to ape noises from a student from another school, and in Dr. Seuss comics, in which Black people were depicted as subservient to White men, or as monkeys and cannibals.

Key Background Mena gained notoriety initially as a model, with an appearance at the age of 16 on MTV’s Jennifer Lopez look-alike contest, before being featured as a model in hip hop music videos, including for Young Gunz, 50 Cent, Chris Brown and Akon. She got her break in a series of reality TV appearances, with stints on Keeping up with the Kardashians spin-off Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami , and later on Love & Hip Hop: New York. She has two children with Samuels, who she married in 2019 and later divorced in May 2021, just weeks after she announced she was expecting her second child with Samuels.

Tangent Love & Hip Hop: New York premiered in 2011, following hip hop and R&B singers, managers and record producers both professionally and personally. Since its debut, the franchise has run spin-offs in Atlanta, as well as Hollywood and Miami, featuring artists such as Soulja Boy, Waka Flocka Flame, Remy Ma, Ray J and Keyshia Cole, and helped launch artists including Cardi B and K. Michelle.

The series was rebooted as a four-part special in 2020, before bringing back a 10th season of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” in 2021, and moving it to MTV for its 11th season, which premiered in June. Further Reading How The ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ Franchise Impacted Rasheeda Frost’s Entrepreneurial Journey (Forbes) Send me a secure tip . Brian Bushard Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.