In an MTV roundtable discussion, Spice discussed Erica Mena being fired from “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” for calling the Jamaican musician a “monkey.” Quite frankly, Spice didn’t mince words.
“I don’t care what nobody else want to say: A racist was revealed,” she said. “Four hundred years ago, our slave masters would call us monkeys to ... dehumanize us. It was a tactic to justify racism. ... This is a deeply rooted slur that has nothing to do with me.
“The history, the burden, the blood, the slashes, the tears and the fights ... everything is attached to this word.” Spice also talked about how folks blamed her for Mena’s use of the racist slur, saying that she started it when she disparaged Mena’s parenting.
“The color of my skin makes me seem like the aggressor or whatever,” Spice commented. “They’re painting me now to be the ‘angry Black woman.’ I can take full accountability for coming for her parenting. Her reply could have been a million other words that’s in her vocabulary. Why a racial slur?”
Mena issued an apology for her blatant racism earlier this month (MTV shared that she was dismissed on Sept. 2 for her actions). “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,” Mena stated. Mena also said that as the mother of two Black children, her use of the word “was not in any way racially driven.” Spice wasn’t buying it.
“I take accountability for coming for Erica’s parenting, but it doesn’t sound to me like she wants to take accountability for being a racist or using a racial slur. I can’t trigger you to be a racist. You can’t trigger someone to be a racist.”
Spice summed up our thought’s about Mena’s mea culpa accurately and plainly: “You can’t just apologize because your pocket has been affected. You’ve got to really mean it.”