For the second year in a row, “Love Island USA” has kicked an islander out of the villa after social media posts surfaced of them using the n-word.
Vasana Montgomery will no longer appear in the reality dating series, which returns to Peacock on June 2. The news comes just two days after the Season 8 cast announcement, repeating an uncomfortable pattern: Last year, Yulissa Escobar was removed during the second episode because of videos of her using the same slur. Later in the season, Cierra Ortega exited for a similar reason; she used a racist term for Asian people that she claimed she “had no idea” was a slur.
Montgomery is shown using the n-word in two different videos currently circulating online. In one, she says “Knock knock, n—-” while playing what appears to be a shooting game at an arcade. In the other, she is sitting in a car rapping along to a song that uses the word. It appears that both videos were originally posted to private accounts and weren’t surfaced publicly until after the cast announcement, meaning they would not have been viewable during Peacock’s vetting process.
Montgomery is 25 years old and is from Beaverton, Ore. In Peacock’s cast announcement teaser, she says, “I think I am the full package. I own a business; I live alone; I have a dog. If you were to ask my friends what my type is, they’d show you the world map.”
“Love Island USA” will air new episodes daily throughout its premiere week followed by episodes each day except Wednesdays. Ariana Madix serves as host while Iain Stirling narrates, and executive producers include David George, Adam Sher, Jordana Hochman, Bernie Schaeffer, Ben Thursby-Palmer, James Barker, Blake Garrett, Courtney Rosenthal, Sophie Brown, Richard Cowles, Mike Spencer, Tom Gould, Ali Hill and Martin Oxley. ITV America produces in association with Lifted Entertainment and Motion Entertainment