Love Island USA has kicked out a contestant for posting a racist slur online, marking the second such incident this season. On Sunday, the show announced the departure of Cierra Ortega, 25, due to an unspecified “personal situation.” Her exit comes after years-old social media posts that contained Asian slurs allegedly posted by Ortega resurfaced online. The old posts prompted immediate backlash online, and Love Island fans circulated a petition to remove Ortega from the show, garnering 17,000 signatures. Ortega’s parents posted on her Instagram story late Sunday night, appealing for “compassion” and ”patience.” “We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what’s happening online right now has gone far beyond that,” they wrote. The scandal comes amid a surge in cyberbullying against Love Island stars, which prompted the show’s producers to issue an anti-cyberbullying message on June 24. Ortega is the second contestant this season to be ousted for past racist comments. Yulissa Escobar, 27, was removed from the show on June 4 after fans discovered old podcast clips of Escobar using the N-word.
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