Love Island USA 2025 contestant Cierra Ortega is copping a shit tonne of backlash after her alleged past social media posts using a racial slur — that’s used against the Asian community — resurfaced, and fans are questioning why she’s allowed to stay in the villa.
While Australia’s Love Island has yet to kick off, fans of the streamy reality TV show have been keeping busy with the US version. Although the onscreen drama is enough to make you beg for the return of Married At First Sight dinner parties, it’s the off-screen scandals of 2025 that truly have people fuming.
Earlier in the season, one contestant was axed after their past social media posts of them using the n-word went viral, and now, Cierra Ortega is being called out for allegedly using racist language in two of her old Instagram posts.
Here’s what’s happening in Love Island USA.
What did Love Island USA‘s Cierra Ortega do?
In a TikTok post shared by @lienthusiast, Cierra allegedly used a slur (used against Asians) in two separate social media posts, with one of them dating back to 2015.
“Still chinkin’ even at the top,” she wrote in the caption of a 2015 Instagram post.
In the second one, the Love Island USA contestant was talking about getting Botox, writing she can “be a little chinky” so she loves “getting a mini brow lift to open my eyes and get that snatched look”.
Since then, the season seven star has lost almost 200K Instagram followers. Alongside that social media nosedive, the Love Island USA accounts have been inundated with comments calling for the removal of Cierra.
Will Cierra Ortega be kicked off Love Island USA?
At the time of writing, Love Island USA has not released a statement regarding the controversy, nor kicked Cierra out of the show. In fact, the content creator recently got her own social media promo on the official account, which infuriated fans.
While things are seemingly quiet in the public, an inside source has claimed that Love Island USA producers have been “holding crisis talks” regarding the islander’s future in the villa.
“Cierra is in deep trouble, that is for sure. This kind of language is unacceptable. It was a huge disappointment when we saw it. Everyone is very, very bothered and pissed about that. We will hold a meeting to decide what we should do,” the insider told The Mirror US.
“It doesn’t look great at all for Cierra as a lot of us want to take her out of the show as soon as possible.”
Pressure to axe Cierra is also being pushed upon the Love Island USA producers as fellow 2025 contestant, Yulissa Escobar, was kicked off earlier in the season after a video of her saying the n-word resurfaced on social media.
To give you a quick recap, Yulissa was kicked off in episode two without any background. The Love Island USA narrator simply said, “Yulissa has left the villa” and carried on with the reality TV love fest.
Earlier this week, Yulissa came clean about how she got kicked off on TikTok, revealing she knew things were serious when a producer asked her to take her mic off.
“So, regular-ass day. I did not wake up in the middle of the night, they didn’t get me in the fucking morning. They didn’t drag my ass out of bed,” Yulissa began.
“I honestly got scared, I thought something was happening with a family member or something — I didn’t know what was going on,” she continued.
“They didn’t really tell me anything, they just said, a video resurfaced [on the] internet and it’s not looking too good.”
Yulissa explained she had no clue what video they were talking about, as she didn’t have her phone, but once she was finally made aware of what video had resurfaced, she said, “It was a lot to take in”.
“And I was like, ‘fuck no. I can’t believe people think I’m racist’. I mean, I get it, I said a word that I should not have said,” Yulissa added.
“I wish I would have never said that. It is what it is. I can’t go back in time. I am sorry that I said that word.”
With no action being made again, Cierra, fans are accusing Love Island USA of not taking Asian hate and Asian racism seriously. Some have also accused the show of “hypocrisy” since they got rid of Yulissa and kept Cierra.
Again, at the time of writing, Cierra is currently in the villa, and Love Island USA has not made a statement regarding the controversy surrounding this contestant.
While we wait for what’s next for Love Island USA, I would love to highlight that this is the perfect time to reflect and truly take in what Love Island Australia‘s Tina Provis has been advocating for.
Tina is not only a Love Island fave, but she’s also been advocating for Asian representation on Aussie screens and has previously spoken out about how internalised racism not only impacted her reality TV experience but also her whole life.
You can read her words here.
