Love Island’s Cierra Ortega thought that apologizing for a resurfaced video of her making a racist slur would keep her in the villa.
She was wrong.
Too little too late:
Love Island USA fans called for Cierra to be kicked off the show after the resurfaced video made its way around social media.
A source claimed that Cierra attempted to apologize to avoid going home. The production insider told The U.S. Sun, “We had to tell her to exit the show, as what happened would have created a lot of prejudice. It’s the kind of behavior that is simply unacceptable.”
“She didn’t want to leave the show and tried to apologize for what she did. We decided that apologies aren’t enough for topics like this. She got upset when we told her that she had to leave the show as soon as possible.”
At first, Cierra “thought she could save her spot on the show.”
“It was never an option and we had to decide quickly and inform her so she could start getting ready to get out,” the source claimed. “Cierra was against leaving the show at first, and thought an apology would be enough, but it doesn’t work like this.
“She felt bad, she was very upset, but we had to let her go. We can’t have a bad image and allow people to use such unacceptable words and racial slurs.”
The aftermath of Cierra’s exit:
The Islanders “wanted answers fast” regarding why Cierra was removed from the villa. The insider added, “Other participants got really upset at her. The atmosphere in the show got unbearable and very tense.”
Other contestants [who weren’t named] “tried to talk to producers to try to find an alternative.” But, production stood by their decision, as there was “no other option on the table.”
A second source said of Cierra’s exit: “She didn’t want to leave at first. But, we gave her no choice. We decided that we had no other options but to let her go. We can’t accept this kind of behavior and word used.
“I don’t know if Cierra realized at first how bad the situation was, but we told her that she had to go, and tried to apologize and just thought it would be cool… but no.”
Allegedly, Cierra was not only “very sad,” but also “scared of the aftermath.”
The insider continued, “We had so many messages from fans, tons of pressure from the different people involved in the show, and we had to act fast and do the thing that aligns with our values and logic.”
