Key Points
Love Island USA star Alannah Keyser was pulled from the show on June 25.
Her exit comes after a resurfaced video allegedly showed her using the N-word.
Alannah recently joined for Casa Amor, and connected with fellow Islander Zach Georgiou.
Mere days after entering the villa, one Love Island USA “bombshell” was asked to leave — and not during a recoupling.
Alannah Keyser sparked a connection with season 8 Islander Zach Georgiou after their arrival at Casa Amor during episode 17, which aired on Sunday, but producers pulled her from the villa amid controversy surrounding a video in which she allegedly used a racial slur.
Peacock, which airs Love Island USA Thursday through Tuesday nights, confirmed her exit ahead of episode 20 on June 25, telling Entertainment Weekly that she “will no longer be on the show after tonight’s episode.”
The resurfaced video in question circulated online hours after her debut on the reality dating show, and reportedly shows the now 21-year-old at a party singing along to Roddy Ricch’s song “The Box.” According to viewers, a woman appearing to be Alannah uses the N-word while lip-syncing lyrics.
Reportedly, the video did not appear to have been shared publicly until after her appearance on Love Island USA, and producers were not aware of it at the time of the vetting process.
Amid the scandal, one of Alannah’s friends defended her on TikTok Monday.
“She is very caring and the nicest person ever,” Nick Rogers said in a video. “She has never exhibited any racist traits around me at all. I have never once considered the fact that Alannah would be someone who’d be racist.”
(L-R) Alannah Keyser, Amora “Amora Cachee” Robinson, Parmida Keshani, Jaiden Bacciocco, Sherleaz “Sydney” Eugene, Tierra Davis
Credit: Peacock
He claimed screenshots on Snapchat of her were “fake” and most likely “manipulated” due to the use of AI. “I just can’t imagine, me knowing Alannah, her posting that on social media,” her friend said.
“I looked at the video myself, and I cannot tell whether she is saying the N-word or not,” Nick added. “That is a very touchy subject that I know … has been a big conversation over the years and obviously I do agree that it is very inappropriate for someone who is not a person of color or Black to use that word.”
Nick concluded by saying “it was a different time” when the video was filmed, and that people used the slur “a lot more freely in past years.” (To note: “The Box” was released in 2019.)
“It doesn’t make it right,” he continued, “but I just wanted to come on here and state my side of the story. I think Alannah is a great person, and I would not use any of this information that could be false in order to make a predetermined judgment of her character.”
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.
This is not the first time a Love Island USA contestant was booted from the show for a similar situation. Before season 8 even premiered, Vasana Montgomery was removed from the villa after resurfaced videos showed her using a racial slur.
“I wanted to address a couple of videos from my teen years that have recently resurfaced. In those videos, I used a racial slur. There is no excuse for it, and I am deeply sorry,” she wrote on her Instagram Story at the time. “I am embarrassed and disappointed by my words. I take full responsibility for what I said and understand why it has hurt and upset people.”
Last season, Yulissa Escobar was also removed from Love Island USA during the second episode after a video of her using the same slur during a podcast appearance went viral. Fellow season 7 Islander Cierra Ortega was later removed from the villa for using a racial slur for Asian people.
“While I was in the Villa, there were some posts that resurfaced from my past where I was very naively using an incredibly offensive and derogatory term,” Cierra said in nearly five-minute-long video following her exit last year. “And before I get into the details, I want to first start by addressing not just anyone that I have hurt or deeply offended, but most importantly, the entire Asian community. I am deeply, truly, honestly, so sorry. I had no idea that the word held as much pain, as much harm, and came with the history that it did, or I never would have used it. I had no ill intention when I was using it, but that’s absolutely no excuse because intent doesn’t excuse ignorance. It just doesn’t.”
Since premiering on June 2, the first few episodes of Love Island USA season 8 have generated 824 million minutes viewed, a 74 percent increase over season 7. It is now Peacock’s most-streamed original season ever, according to NBCUniversal.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com ’
