Spice is questioning the discourse surrounding her altercation with Erica Mena after her Love & Hip Hop co-star was fired for her racist remarks. According to the dancehall artist, if her skin were lighter, some people wouldn’t be condoning Mena’s comments whether she “spoke on her son”, or not.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
During a recent episode of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, the reality stars got into it an intense argument that led to Mena flipping a table after Spice claimed that her son “doesn’t like her.” In response, Erica fired racist remarks at her co-star, referring to Spice as a “blue monkey.”
“You monkey, you f***ing blue monkey!” Mena yelled before going on to make monkey noises.
After clips of the spat made their way online, they went viral, which led to many fans calling Erica Mena out for using a term rooted in racism. She was fired from the reality show shortly thereafter, with the VH1 series issuing a statement about the incident.
“The Love & Hip Hop franchise has never shied away from hard conversations in our community,” the franchise wrote in a statement earlier this week. “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.”
Still, despite the blatant racism she faced, Spice also received backlash over bringing up Mena’s child in the first place. The singer addressed this criticism during an Instagram Live on Tuesday, questioning whether Erica’s racism was an acceptable response to her comments.
“I’m not being ignorant; I’m not playing victim,” Spice started. “I am taking full accountability because you said I experienced the racism because I triggered her. So, is that a new thing now in 2023? It’s okay to receive racism as long as you’re angry? I’m just asking. Feel free to let me know.”
Spice went on to claim she would not have gotten so much backlash over the situation if she were lighter-skinned, sharing a photo of her with an ivory tone to highlight her point.
“If I looked like this then some of the Black people who are commenting that it’s okay would not be saying what they’re saying,” Spice said. “You can play hypocrite if you want.”
Spice also denied that she made a derogatory comment about Mena’s son and instead said she was criticizing her parenting.
“I would never say anything bad about someone’s child. I have two kids, I have God kids, I love kids,” said Spice. “I came for Erica’s parenting, and I can take full accountability for that because that’s exactly where I was coming from, because that’s what we were talking about.”
Spice also had a conversation with Tamar Braxton, who initially defended Erica’s comments by insisting that “all bets are off” when someone comes for your kids.
While on Live with Spice, however, Tamar said she was speaking hypothetically as she had not watched the show.
“I didn’t see it,” said Tamar. “I don’t watch that show, we talked about that. It’s nothing fake about me because I wouldn’t say anything, but my job is to comment on what’s being reported.”
