Love Island USA bombshell Cierra Ortega is speaking out after departing season seven of Peacock‘s hit reality series a week before the finale.
“Now that I’ve been back in the U.S. for about 48 hours and I’ve had the chance to process, I now feel like I’m at a space where I can speak about this without being highly emotional because I am not the victim in this situation,” she began in a more than four-minute video posted on Instagram.
During the July 6 episode, the show’s narrator, Iain Stirling, announced that Ortega had “left the villa due to a personal situation,” leaving Nic Vansteenberg, who she had been in a couple with during most of her time in the villa, “officially single.”
No other details regarding Ortega’s abrupt exit from the show were shared; however, it came amid backlash after a social media post from her resurfaced, showing her using a racial slur. Love Island USA fans had been calling for her removal from the show due to the offensive post.
Ortega continued in her video, “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. 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. And I just need you to know that I am so sorry, but this is not an apology video. This is an accountability video.”
“I think right now there are tons of things floating around, different screenshots with different time stamps and fueling this narrative that I sort of doubled down once people tried to correct me and was like, ‘Oh, like I don’t know, I’m still gonna use it,’ but that was not the case,” she said in the lengthy video. “The truth is that in that moment, the lesson was learned, the word was removed and it was a true learning moment for me and I think since that moment I’ve done so much growing as an individual, and I’ve tried my best to educate others who might be accidentally holding space for these types of words that could be offensive in their vocabulary.”
Ortega added that she “completely agrees with the network’s decision to remove me from the Villa. I think that this is something that deserved punishment, and the punishment has absolutely been received for sure.”
She also addressed the online hate she’s received after the racial posts resurfaced, noting that her “family doesn’t feel safe in their own home” and that she’s been receiving death threats.
“There’s no need to fight hate with hate,” Ortega said in the video. “I don’t think that that’s justice, and if you want to know that you are heard and that I’m sorry and that I will move differently, I promise you that’s what will happen.”
“All I can ask for is even if you won’t give me forgiveness, if you can just allow me to grow with grace and hopefully, instead of sitting here and trying to convince you that I am this amazing person who spreads light in the world and celebrates cultures and dynamics and backgrounds, then one day you can see that from me,” she concluded. “I’m deeply sorry again, and I thank anyone who’s listening.”
Earlier in the season, contestant Yulissa Escobar was also removed from the Peacock series after clips of her using racial slurs resurfaced online. Following her departure, she shared in a statement, “First, I want to apologize for using a word I had no right in using. Podcast clips from years ago have recently resurfaced, and I want to address it directly. In those clips, I used a word I never should’ve used, a racial slur. I used it ignorantly, not fully understanding the weight, history, or pain behind it. I wasn’t trying to be offensive or harmful, but I recognize now that intention doesn’t excuse impact. And the impact of that word is real. It’s tied to generations of trauma, and it is not mine to use.”
Love Island USA season seven is currently streaming on Peacock, with Ariana Madix returning as host. The current remaining Islanders as of Wednesday night include Chelley and Ace, Huda and Chris, Olandria and Nic, Amaya and Bryan and Iris and Pepe.
