“The Real” host said it wouldn’t have happened if she was a “white girl.”
Loni Love recalled her first brush with the law in her upcoming memoir “I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have To.”
“I never had to deal with police,” ” the “The Real” host shared with People about growing up in Detroit. “Everybody just got shot, and that was it.”
But that changed when she moved to Texas to go to college, as she recalled being arrested for “trespassing” in a restaurant by a white cop one evening.
The incident occurred when she and her friend Keisha — who are both Black — were on their way back to campus when they stopped at a Mexican eatery, according to the comedian, in an excerpt obtained by the news outlet.
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Loni said she remembered paying for her food when she saw Keisha being “yanked away” and handcuffed by the white officer, who accused Keisha of filling up her free water cup with soda.
When Loni attempted to step in, she was arrested as well, for “trespassing.”
“Both you n–ger bitches is going to jail. Now close your f–king mouth before I close it for you,” the officer said, according to Loni’s memoir.
The TV personality told the outlet, “He put handcuffs on me. And that was my introduction to the criminal justice system.”
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Loni said she was bailed out, took probation and was able to get the felony expunged from her record, but it proved an expensive legal process.
“It took all of my savings, and it’s all because of something so stupid,” she explained. “And you could say, well she did put soda in a water cup, but it was because we were two black girls. We know if it was two white girls, [the cop] would have said, ‘Don’t do that.'”
She said the experience made her study the criminal justice system and, ultimately, shaped her future.
“It kind of all connects with why I decided to go on to co-host a talk show, because I wanted to have those issues focused on as well,” she explained. “Because in my opinion, I thought that if you’re on a daily talk show and if once in a while, you can talk about the injustices and show it and discuss it, maybe we can all learn from it.”
Loni’s “I Tried to Change So You Don’t Have To” is available June 23.
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