On Sunday, Love Island USA announced mid-episode that Cierra Ortega had left the show “due to a personal situation” and that fellow contestant Nic Vansteenberghe, whom she’d been dating, was now “officially single.” The 25-year-old’s sudden exit came days after old social-media posts resurfaced in which she appeared to use an anti-Asian slur to describe her eyes. Two of the posts were from 2015 and 2020, per Rolling Stone, but one was made as recently as 2023, according to People. Ortega faced major backlash on social media in the days since the posts emerged, and more than 17,000 people signed an online petition calling for her to be removed from the show.
In a statement shared to Ortega’s Instagram Story on Sunday after her departure was announced, her parents called the backlash “one of the most painful weeks of our lives,” saying they had received “threats” and “cruel messages.” “We’re not here to justify or ignore what’s surfaced,” they wrote. “We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what’s happening online right now has gone far beyond that.”
Ortega’s parents noted that their daughter hasn’t had her phone while filming or any other contact with the outside world, and therefore “hasn’t had the chance to process any of this or speak for herself.” “While she’ll always be our little girl, she’s also a woman, one who will take responsibility in her own time and her own voice,” they said. “Until then, we’re simply asking for compassion. For patience. For basic human decency. Not just for her, but for everyone caught in the middle of this.”
In a statement on Instagram after Sunday’s episode, contestant Belle-A Walker said that “as a proud Asian American woman” she was “deeply appreciative” of the show “for taking a stand and making it clear that racism of any kind is not tolerated.” She said she unfollowed Ortega a few days ago when “it became clear that I could no longer support this person.” Walker said she hopes “this situation can help shed light on how big of an issue anti-Asian hate actually is,” but she asked fans not to harass Ortega.
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“I do not condone bigotry or racism of any kind. But I also don’t condone hate either,” she said. “Please think twice before leaving unkind comments to or about this person.”
Ortega is the second contestant to be kicked off Love Island this season after racist social-media posts surfaced. Last month, Yulissa Escobar was booted after footage surfaced of her repeatedly using a racist slur in a podcast appearance, per TMZ. Escobar had also raised eyebrows after photos of her in a MAGA hat circulated online along with a since-deleted TikTok of Escobar complaining about losing followers for being a Trump supporter. After her removal from the villa, Escobar apologized in a statement on Instagram, saying she “used a word I never should’ve used, a racial slur.”
Meanwhile, contestant Austin Shepard faced backlash this season for reposting several pro-Trump TikToks and then denied being racist by pointing out that he has a tattoo of a Black woman. On Saturday, after being dumped from the villa — and just before Escobar’s exit — Shepard apologized for the reposts, saying he has “a very dry sense of humor and “genuinely didn’t think before sharing that content.”
