Cierra breaks silence on 'Love Island USA' exit, apologizes for 'incredibly offensive' slur

USA Today

6 days ago

Days after her abrupt exit from the "Love Island USA" villa, Cierra Ortega is addressing the reason she was removed from the show.
In the week leading up to her departure, some social media users expressed outrage over screenshots of a few alleged Instagram posts and messages in recent years that showed Ortega using a racist slur against people of Asian descent to negatively refer to her eyes.
The 25-year-old, wearing a sweater with "empathy" emblazoned across the front, opened a nearly five-minute video on Instagram on July 9 by issuing an apology to "not just anyone that I have hurt or deeply offended, but most importantly, the entire Asian community. I am deeply, truly, honestly, so sorry."
"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," she said. "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."
She went on to call the post "not an apology video," but rather "an accountability video."
On July 6, she was phased out of the Peacock romance-competition show – in which she first appeared at the end of the June 3 premiere episode – around 15 minutes in as narrator Iain Stirling announced she "has left the villa due to a personal situation."
She and her partner, Nic Vansteenberghe, were the only couple to label themselves as exclusive; their fellow islanders appeared to consider them frontrunners to win the cash prize as the season concludes Sunday, July 13.
What happened? What we know about Cierra Ortega's 'Love Island USA' exit
Cierra 'had no idea' slur she used was racist
Ortega said she did not know the racist origins of the word she used in multiple social media posts, explaining, "I do want it to be known that I genuinely had no idea that it was a slur. I had no of its meaning."
The slur was "immediately removed from my vocabulary" in 2024, when she posted an Instagram story and "a follower of mine reached out to correct me and let me know that what I was saying was incredibly hurtful."
She shared a screenshot of a direct message exchange and denied any "narrative" that she had doubled down on using the word, as alleged in a screen grab of an exchange that is circulating on social media.
Cierra: 'I completely agree' with 'decision to remove me from the villa'
Ortega did not push back against the "Love Island USA" producers' choice to have her leave the reality TV show.
"I completely agree 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 said.
Ortega, an Arizonan whose family is Mexican and Puerto Rican, went on to denounce the backlash from viewers, some of whom have allegedly called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on her family.
"My family doesn't feel safe in their own home. I'm receiving death threats," she said. "There's no need to fight hate with hate. I don't think that that's justice."
Prior to Ortega's video, a message attributed to her family was posted on her Instagram story on the evening of July 6. Cast members do not regain access to their phones for a certain amount of time.
"We're not here to justify or ignore what's surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what's happening online right now has gone far beyond that," the lengthy statement said, in part.
"The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it's heartbreaking. It's uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they've made."