Every time a video of young women fighting goes viral, someone blames reality TV. Love & Hip Hop star Erica Mena says that’s not fair.
In an essay for Vibe Vixen, Erica responded to the debate after two brutal fights, both sparked by Twitter beef, were recorded and spread across the internet. Media outlets pointed to shows like Basketball Wives, Love & Hip Hop, Real Housewives and Mob Wives, arguing that young viewers see cast members gain fame and money from fighting and think they’ll be rewarded too.
Erica isn’t buying it. She wrote that she grew up watching Scarface and Goodfellas but never felt the urge to hurt anyone or get involved in drugs, because her parents and older siblings taught her right from wrong. In her view, the young women in those videos were missing that kind of foundation at home.
She also owned her own on screen fight. Erica said she publicly apologized, and that the fight was not scripted or a cry for attention. She has a young son who will see it someday, and she says she’ll have a lot of explaining to do.
“There is nothing classy about fighting onscreen, but we all make mistakes,” she wrote. Her point is that reality stars’ worst moments happen on camera in front of millions, and they shouldn’t be made scapegoats for violence among kids. She believes parents need to help their children make sense of what they see on TV, in movies and in music.
So does Erica have a point, or does reality TV deserve some of the blame?
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