The Big Picture
- Love & Hip Hop franchise led artists like Cardi B to surpass reality TV fame.
- Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood declined in viewership due to scripted content.
- Moniece Slaughter's bitter feud with Apryl Jones reveals intense animosity and lack of reconciliation.
Love & Hip Hop quickly became a titan in the reality TV world. The series' first iteration in New York, which originally premiered and aired on VH1, led to the development of a reality franchise in Atlanta, which garnered even more popularity, leading to more franchises in various cities. Shortly after Love and Hip Hop Atlanta came Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and then L&H Miami, featuring local artists in those cities, as well as the series regulars who hopped around from city to city like Ray J and Safaree. The series' popularity has allowed a few artists to grow to a point far beyond the scope of reality TV. A great example of this is Cardi B, who was a cast member of Love and Hip Hop New York and used her platform well enough to become the phenom that she is today. There may even be fans of hers who don’t know her career started out in reality TV.
Issues soon began to arise, however, only a few years after the premiere of Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood. Viewership began to decline as people felt this particular franchise felt too scripted and overproduced, something executive producer Mona Scott-Young had to defend on several occasions, insisting that the drama was real. It seemed far-fetched, especially the wild love triangle in season six between Fizz, aka Dreux Pierre Frédéric, Moniece Slaughter, and Apryl Jones, which captured the primary focus of what would become the series final season. Love and Hip Hop Hollywood fans have been left in the dark since the series was indefinitely postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It does not seem like LAHHH will be back with new episodes any time soon, but now, thanks to an interview with Carlos King, Moniece Slaughter has provided even more insight into the whole situation, and her emotions were very real.
The Bitter Love Triangle Between Moniece Slaughter, Fizz, and Apryl Jones
The last season of LAHHH was filled with the salacious issues surrounding the relationship between Fizz and Apryl Jones. Apryl had been in a relationship with his former bandmate and B2K frontman, Omarion, and when their relationship ended, she took comfort in the arms of the artist formerly known as Lil’ Fizz. Their relationship sparked a lot of controversy, as Omarion was essentially betrayed by his friend. Fizz tried to deny that he was ever friends with Omarion, which Moniece said was not true. She shared on her Instagram stories, “Omari invited Dreux & Kam to Disneyland after the release of his single w/ Chris Brown & here. Along with Chris & other fathers and their sons! The boys were friends.” And given that they were in a boyband together as teenagers, nobody really took his claim seriously.
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Things between Moniece and Apryl did not have to be as antagonistic as they were, and Moniece shared during her interview with Carlos King on Reality With the King. “And obviously, It was the lies. It was the lies. It was the lies. It was embarrassing because I had been defending them. I literally said out loud To K. Michelle, ‘I don't think they'd be that morally bankrupt.’” She was referring, of course, to the suspicious timeline of their relationship, as the couple was officially together in 2019 but had been seen on trips together in years prior. She added, “I knew that they were hanging out and like vacationing and stuff from like 2016, [20]17. Like literally, pictures of them in Mexico, but it didn't look like a [relationship].” The timeline of Fizz and Apryl’s relationship is still fuzzy, but the animosity between Apryl and Moniece is quite clear.
Moniece Slaughter Says She and Apryl Jones Will Never Be Friends Ever Again
Carlos asked if there was potential for Moniece and Apryl to reconcile their friendship, and Moniece’s response was clear and straight to the point. She said: “Why would I extend anything? I don't need to fix something I didn't break, so I don't need to extend anything. I don't need to extend my arm to pick up the phone to dial. I don't need to extend my thumbs to text. I don't need to extend my brainpower or energy [to] honor reconciliation. I don't need to extend my lips anymore to even talk about her.”
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Carlos was incredibly taken aback, and after pushing further, Moniece said: “When I die. Put her in the back at my funeral. There's no room. The back five rows on each side of the church. The last five pews? Those are for people that I don't like, that I need in my death to know, adding later, “That's how closed the door is. Because the back five pews also have to be dismissed because they're not allowed to go to my repass and get free food and entertainment. So, you came to church hungry for a service, you got read for a building, [and] now you're leaving before the repass.”
The depth of the betrayal Moniece felt during that situation doesn’t come from their relationship itself, but the lack of respect she felt Apryl showed her as the mother of Fizz’s child. She asserts that both Apryl and Fizz had her son hide the fact that they were living together from her. She shared, “The ultimate betrayal was the fact that you joined in on the bandwagon of ‘kick me while I was down.’”
Moniece Says That Apryl Jones Was Gas-Lighting Her During Their Feud
Moniece felt gas-lit by Apryl’s behavior, as while she was crying for sympathy for being allegedly mistreated by Omarion on the series, she was, according to Moniece, taunting her while she was going through the same thing she was crying about on TV. Moniece said: “To say that you're not gaslighting me is crazy. Because the only time I don't unravel, for the most part… I had emotional breakdowns and outbursts in front of my child, yes. But, when it comes to his dad. We don't do that. So, girl, f*** you! Because you knew [that] I wasn't about to blow up in my own house in front of my child. And you come waving the book, white tank top, no bra on, [wearing] boxers. So it's like, you know, first of all, the fact that you were even comfortable doing that on my doorstep is nuts. Because I should have socked you in your throat and then tased you and watched you pee on yourself, but I didn't.”
She clarified this further by saying, “That type of behavior… It wasn't the dating. It was just like the mounting disrespect. It was crazy. It was wild. It was nuts.” While public sentiment certainly empathized more with Moniece throughout the scenario, there were still many who felt like Moniece’s behavior on and off camera was unhinged. And those feelings affected Moniece in several ways. She shared, “And that's what I always try to explain to people. For me, it's way deeper than just what people are seeing on the camera.”
One good thing that has happened in the years since is that the co-parenting relationship between herself and Fizz has improved immensely. He let me use his washer and dryer He did. Yeah, he wasn't in town, though. And he also said that I could use his shower because the pipes at my house had burst.” She also added, “You know, I never in a million years thought, wow, that's I still brought my own detergent, but it's just the fact that, like, he let me use his washer and dryer.” While this update is a positive one, it’s hard not to ignore the fact that the things she was so excited about him doing for her should not be exciting. As a man and a father with means, one would think he’d want to make sure the mother of his child was taken care of. On the outside, this seems like common human decency, but bitterness and animosity often overshadow what’s best for the kids.
Love & Hip Hop can be streamed on Paramount+.
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