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Love Island USA<\/em> star Alannah Keyser was pulled from the show on June 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Her exit comes after a resurfaced video allegedly showed her using the N-word.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Alannah recently joined for Casa Amor, and connected with fellow Islander Zach Georgiou.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Mere days after entering the villa, one Love Island USA<\/em><\/a> “bombshell” was asked to leave \u2014 and not during a recoupling.<\/p>\n Alannah Keyser sparked a connection with season 8 Islander<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Peacock, which airs Love Island USA<\/em> Thursday through Tuesday nights, confirmed her exit ahead of episode 20 on June 25, telling Entertainment Weekly<\/em> that she “will no longer be on the show after tonight’s episode.”<\/p>\n The resurfaced video in question circulated online<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Reportedly, the video did not appear to have been shared publicly until after her appearance on Love Island USA<\/em>, and producers were not aware of it at the time of the vetting process.<\/p>\n Amid the scandal, one of Alannah’s friends defended her<\/a> on TikTok Monday.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n (L-R) Alannah Keyser, Amora “Amora Cachee” Robinson, Parmida Keshani, Jaiden Bacciocco, Sherleaz “Sydney” Eugene, Tierra Davis He claimed screenshots on Snapchat<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n “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 \u2026 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.”<\/p>\n 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.)<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our <\/em><\/strong>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is not the first time a Love Island USA<\/em> contestant was booted from the show for a similar situation. Before season 8 even premiered, Vasana Montgomery<\/a> was removed from the villa after resurfaced videos showed her using a racial slur.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Last season, Yulissa Escobar<\/a> was also removed from Love Island USA<\/em> 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<\/a> was later removed from the villa for using a racial slur for Asian people.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Since premiering on June 2, the first few episodes of Love Island USA<\/em> 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<\/a>, according to NBCUniversal.<\/p>\n Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Credit: Peacock<\/i><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n