"I Felt Completely Violated": Erica Mena Opens Up About Using a Racial Slur and the Aftermath

Erica Mena recently sat down with YouTuber Carlos King around 2 months after her controversial exit from the 11th season of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. Mena had been fired from the show after her use of a controversial racial slur in a conversation with castmate Spice.

While the expectation was that she would be all too willing to apologize, the reality has been slightly different. Erica accepted that the use of the term was problematic. However, she claimed that no racial connotation was attached to the insult.

Rather, the producers on the show effectively made her a scapegoat and wanted her to bear the brunt of the criticism. Erica claimed that Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’s showrunners wanted to protect Spice despite her castmate’s blatant decision to promote racism. Talking about how her comments did not affect Spice the way she pretended, Erica refused to apologize, despite taking responsibility for the comments. Her comments have since appeared to divide opinion.

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Erica Mena speaks out 2 months after using racial slur on Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta

The interview saw Mena claim that the use of the term was not intended in a racial manner. Rather, it was due to the way in which Spice had been banging on her window and the violent reaction that she was trying to extract out of Mena. Mena claimed that her outburst was a result of feeling violated by someone she considered a friend:

"Honestly, it was her banging on the window and her putting her a** up that reminded me of the animal in that moment, not a race, an individual, her. So, what do you think, like, you’re a f***ing animal. I felt completely violated by a woman that I really respect."

Erica went on to compare the single-mother struggles that both she and Spice went through. She claimed that while she wanted to take accountability for the use of the term, she had nothing to apologize to Spice about. This was simply down to the way Spice responded to the controversy:

"I just want to take accountability and I just want people to know now more than ever the state of being mindful and more aware of the things I say. I’m not racist and I’m not a colorist and I’m sorry to the people who I offended.

Mena continued by claiming that she would surely have apologized had Spice been "genuinely broken" due to her insult. Instead, she talked about how her castmate went on live stream and had a range of choice insults for her as well.

Spice had apparently gone on social media and insulted her former friend after their altercation. Mena then went on to hint that it was the showrunners who deliberately streamed only parts of the altercation in order to paint a tainted picture. Talking about how it was Spice who had sought to bring racial connotations into the conversation, she wanted the showrunners to include the conversations that happened after the incident as well.

Of course, VH1 did not oblige and simply gave the incident no publicity on the show itself. Erica effectively claimed that her use of the term had no racial connotations and was merely a response to the kind of physical assault that Spice seemed determined to commit on her. She spoke at length about the kind of family that she herself belongs to, and how she had to undergo racism as a kid as well.

Mena stated that she lacked the mental capacity to insult someone on the basis of their skin color, and that the incident had simply been blown out of proportion by all the parties involved.