“Love Island USA” contestant Cierra Ortega has left the villa, days after past social media posts using a racial slur surfaced online.
The Peacock reality series announced a week before the Season 7 finale that Cierra Ortega, 25, had left due to a “personal” situation, leaving fellow contestant Nic Vansteenberghe officially single. But online, viewers had resurfaced multiple posts of Cierra Ortega using a racist slur against Asian people, including one as recently as 2023, according to People.
Early the night of Sunday, July 6, Ortega’s parents released a statement on her Instagram stories on her behalf, noting Ortega and her loved ones have been threatened and sent “cruel messages.”
“This has been one of the most painful weeks of our lives. We’ve seen the posts, the headlines, the hurt and the hate. And while Cierra Ortega hasn’t seen any of it yet, we have. And so have the people who love her,” the statement read. “We’re not here to justify or ignore what’s surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters.”
The post continued: “The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it’s heartbreaking. It’s uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they’ve made.”
“Love Island” contestants do not have contact with the outside world while on the series, including access to their phones. Ortega’s parents said that though she has left the villa, she has not returned home yet.
“She hasn’t had the chance to process any of this or speak for herself. But we know our daughter. We know her heart. And when she returns, we believe she’ll face this with honesty, growth, and grace,” the post continued.
Ortega’s exit comes weeks after another contestant, Yulissa Escobar, was abruptly ousted from the villa, similarly with little explanation from Season 7 producers. Fans of the show were in an uproar over resurfaced clips of her using a racial epithet on a podcast. She apologized days after the video surfaced, saying at the time she didn’t fully understand “the weight, history, or pain behind it.”