Erica Mena fired from 'Love & Hip Hop' after racist slur

Erica Mena fired from ‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’ after calling castmate Spice a racist slur

Erica Mena posing in a black dress against a black backdrop

Sept. 3, 2023 1:59 PM PT

Erica Mena has been fired from “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” after calling castmate Spice a racist slur on a recent episode of the show.

The “Stepmother 3” and “Assistant” actor “will not appear in the next season” of the VH1 reality series, according to a statement posted Saturday on the “Love & Hip Hop” Instagram page.

“The ‘Love & Hip Hop’ franchise has never shied away from hard conversations in our community,” the statement read.

“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.”

On the Tuesday episode of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” hairstylist Shekinah Jo invited Mena and Spice to a meal in an effort to end a feud brewing between the actor and the dancehall artist. During the meal, Mena and Spice — both divorcees and mothers — got into an argument related to Mena’s recent divorce.

(Mena and singer Safaree Samuels wed in 2019 and officially ended their marriage last year, according to TMZ. They share two young children.)

After Spice accused Mena of acting like she’s “the first woman to be divorced” and told her that her son doesn’t like her, the former model reacted by flipping the table, lunging at Spice and calling the Jamaican musician a “blue monkey.”

The production crew had to separate the women during the altercation, during which Mena called Spice a “monkey” multiple times.

“Erica, I cannot believe you just called this girl a monkey and then said she should have died,” Jo said in a taped confessional during the episode. “What type of s— is this? You have Jamaican children [with Samuels]. Would you like if somebody called your children monkeys? You shouldn’t have did that, Erica. That was out of line.”

“We hearing that she wish I died on the table and giving me all these racial slurs,” Spice said in another confessional, adding that, “now ... the real Erica is out.”

Representatives for Mena and Spice did not immediately respond Sunday to The Times’ requests for comment.