Alannah Keyser, 21, has become the second participant to be expelled from the ongoing season of Love Island USA for using a racial slur in a recently surfaced video.
This decision was made less than a week after the college student from Miami joined the show as a bombshell during the Casa Amor episodes of the Peacock reality dating series.
Just after her arrival at the villa on June 21, a Snapchat video featuring her singing along to a song that includes the N-word emerged online. The track in question appears to be Roddy Ricch’s 2019 hit The Box.
The show’s narrator, Iain Stirling, addressed her sudden exit during a commercial break on Thursday night, stating, “Alannah has left Casa Amor.”
After her initial appearance in Season 8, where she seemed to form a bond with contestant Zach Georgiou, viewers observed that her screen presence began to diminish. Several Reddit users pointed out that she was significantly edited out of Tuesday’s episode.
Keyser’s situation is not an isolated incident for this season or the franchise overall.
Following the announcement of the Season 8 cast on May 28, videos of Vasana Montgomery using a racial slur also resurfaced. Montgomery was removed from the series before it even aired.
Love Island USA Season 7 has attracted a large audience, but beyond the villa, contestants and their families have encountered a surge of online hate, leading the production to issue a warning against cyberbullying.
In the previous year, two contestants from Season 7 were also expelled in separate incidents.
Shortly after the season’s debut, it was revealed that Yulissa Escobar had been dismissed due to resurfaced footage of her using racial slurs during a podcast.
Escobar later shared an apology on Instagram, taking accountability for her actions and expressing her truth.
“In those clips, I used a word I should never have used: a racial slur,” she stated in part. “I used it out of ignorance, not fully grasping the weight, history, or pain associated with it. I didn’t intend to be offensive or harmful, but I now understand that intention doesn’t mitigate impact.”
Weeks later, Cierra Ortega was also let go from the series due to similar videos that circulated online.
She addressed her apology on TikTok.
“I fully support the network’s choice to remove me from the villa. I believe this action warranted consequences, and I have definitely received the necessary punishment,” she remarked.
CBC News attempted to contact Keyser for her comments, but there was no response prior to publication.
