A casting director is calling out the producers of Love Island USA for letting two contestants slip into the villa despite them using racial slurs in their past. According to the casting director, the producers of the show did not do their due diligence.
It’s no secret that Love Island USA has had its share of controversy this season. From participants having sex in the villa to questionable eliminations, the show also saw two contestants being removed from the villa because of racist remarks they made in the past. Fans criticized the show for giving these women a spotlight despite their unfortunate actions in the past.
Did Love Island USA production fail to deliver on background checks?
Season 7 of Love Island USA had two female participants removed from the villa for racist remarks. The first was Yulissa Escobar for using the N-word. Fans called for her removal. And many believed that was the scandal of the season.
It turns out it was just the first. Producers also removed Cierra Ortega from the villa for using a racial slur in a previously deleted social media post. Both girls have since addressed the issue.
However, it looks like the talent recruiters may not be to blame for this. According to a source from TMZ, production should have handled the background checks. Joy Tenenberg, Unscripted Casting Director for British TV network ITV (which airs Love Island) shared that this was a huge miss for production.
She shared that the vetting process for candidates to be on the show is “like 15,000 steps long.” The scrutiny is intense. The problem is, in the case of Cierra, if a post was made and deleted a long time ago it would likely not be found. Someone was holding that screenshot and resurfaced it, which can’t be predicted or prevented.
Generally, if a recent questionable post, from like a year ago resurfaced, that would be on the casting department to find. If it was something from 15 years ago, that’s on production and legal to handle. Other than that, the team relies on contestants to bring up anything in their past that could potentially pop up.
In the end, it was a mistake. Joy shared that sometimes mistakes happen but generally, production teams do the best they can.
Love Island USA is available to stream on Peacock.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK PRODUCTION TEAMS NEED MORE PEOPLE TO HANDLE VETTING? HOW FAR BACK AND HOW DEEP SHOULD THEY GO?
