Reality television has been under fire for years for its lack of diversity and accountability. The Bachelorfranchise only cast Caucasian Bachelors and Bachelorettes for twelve seasons. Rachel Lindsay was cast as the first African-American lead in 2017. Even after that, multiple contestants, most notably Rachel Kirkconnell, had racist pasts revealed. Racism even shows up on The Real Housewives of New York City, whose cast was completely rebooted amid racial tensions with the show’s first Black housewife, Eboni K. Williams – and after many racist remarks from Ramona Singer.
However, the reality TV spotlight has now shifted to Love IslandUSA, which blew up during its sixth season last year, and has continued to be wildly successful in its seventh. Although issues of race and diversity have long been prevalent on the show, Love Island has announced that they are finally going to be changing their casting process. This information comes after multiple people were booted from the villa this season due to racism. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s something that should’ve been done years ago. Why are they doing this now, seven seasons in?
A ‘Love Island’ Insider Says Major Changes Are Coming to Casting
If Love Island didn’t do something about their casting process after this season, the show would’ve lost thousands of viewers. Many fans have hit their breaking point, and the show is finally doing something about it. According to a show insider who spoke to The Sun, starting next season, they are going to get people to look more into potential contestants’ social media presence, and everything they did before trying to get onto the show. The insider added that “We are going to hire more people to dig into people’s past and things they did in public and really brush out their social media and old posts to see if anything controversial came out of there.” They continued to say that “If there is anything racist, sexist or offensive in there, the person won’t be allowed to be considered as a potential participant on the show. We can’t have any more situations where we deal with racist behavior.”
The insider is referring to two situations this season where contestants were booted from the show for racist behavior from their past resurfacing. After appearing on only one episode, fans exposed clips from a podcast that contestant Yulissa Escobar appeared on, in which she used a racial slur. She was immediately (but very quietly) booted from the villa. Later in the season, bombshell Cierra Ortega left the villa “for personal reasons” after a video she made resurfaced online, talking about her Botox and using a word that is derogatory towards Chinese people. Even Huda Mustafais under fire for lip-syncing the n-word in a song. However, she was not removed from the villa.
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‘Love Island USA’ Fires Back at Viewers After Shocking Online Behavior With Strong Warning
‘Love Island USA’ are doing what’s necessary to protect their cast members.
Is This a Wake-Up Call or a PR Patch Job?
The insider told The Sun that these incidents damaged the show’s “brand,”claiming it “…gives us a very bad imagebecause we should have done better at making sure that everything was clear and nothing bad was done in their past, from public appearances to social media posts, etc.” The insider ensured it won’t ever happen again, starting next season. Okay great. Yes, they are taking accountability for their actions and are finding ways to fix them. However, this should’ve been done YEARS ago. The fact that the straw that broke the camel’s back was that these incidents became so damaging to Love Island‘s “brand” and “reputation” is disappointing. Is this really a wake-up call for Love Island – or just another PR patch job?
Love Island itself has not publicly apologized or put out any kind of statement of acknowledgment of the incidents. If they had the right intentions, and truly cared about fostering a respectful environment that encourages diversity, they probably would’ve said something publicly immediately, or even better, made these casting changes a long time ago. Only now that the show has become so popular and their ratings and reputation are on the line will they finally do something about it.
Stream Love Island USA on Peacock.
Love Island USA
- Release Date
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July 9, 2019
- Network
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CBS, Peacock
- Directors
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Ryan ‘Reinhardt’ Vermeulen, Paul Newton, Marty Denholm
- Franchise(s)
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Love Island
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Iain Stirling
Self – Narrator
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Arielle Vandenberg
Self – Host
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