We Need a Vacay After Unpacking All the ‘Love Island USA’ Season 7 Controversies

After 36 episodes and a month of craving breakfast more times than we can count, we've finally reached the finish line of Love Island USA Season 7. The season finale, airing on July 13, 2025, will crown one couple with $100,000 and bragging rights of being one of America's favorite pairs.

Before we discovered who would become the next Kordena (Season 6 winners ), can we please discuss how Love Island, a show designed for singletons to have fun and connect with a stunning villa as its backdrop, became incredibly messy?

The season provided several wild moments, resulting in multiple instances where narrator Iain Stirling told us someone had "left the villa." Here's a look back on the controversies Love Island watchers will never forget.

Many Love Island USA fans had all the time in the world to dig up dirt on the Season 7 contestants, though some didn't make it that difficult for them. During the Season 7 premiere, multiple fans uncovered videos of Yulissa Escobar using the N-word on a podcast. In the following episode, the show confirmed that Yulissa was asked not to continue with the dating experiment.

Shortly after her exit, the model released a statement on her Instagram account, taking accountability for her past actions.

"In those clips, I used a word I never should’ve used, a racial slur," Yulissa wrote in a lengthy caption. "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."

Huda Mustafa had been one of the more controversial Love Island Season 7 stars due to her intense relationships with fellow contestants Jeremiah Brown and Chris Seeley, paired with the fact that half of the fandom thinks she's a stripper. However, in July 2025, she was dragged by fans after a video of her also using a racial slur surfaced.

In the clip, Huda mouthed the lyrics to Elijah the Boy's 2022 hit "Over You," and seemingly said the N-word as she repeated one of the verses. While a source told The U.S. Sun they were "extremely upset" by the video, they stated she didn't say the entire word and that she would still be included in the Season 7 finale. Huda, who was in the villa at the time the video surfaced, didn't immediately address the backlash.

In episode 30, Iain confirmed that Cierra Ortega, who entered the villa as a Bombshell, "left the villa due to a personal situation." While he did not elaborate as to why, her exit followed weeks of backlash over resurfaced social media posts that contained a racial slur against Asian people.

A Change.org petition that urged producers to give Cierra the boot garnered over 17,300 signatures. She also lost over 180,000 Instagram followers the week the posts surfaced.

In a statement shared to her social media following the July 6 episode, her parents said they experienced "one of the most painful weeks of our lives. She also apologized in a statement posted on her social media accounts.

"I would never intentionally use any word, especially a slur, to tear down anyone's culture or community," Cierra shared. "When I used that word, I didn't fully understand what it meant or how much pain it carries."

Cierra added: "I learned how deeply wrong it was when I was called out for it in 2024, and as you can see in the screenshot I shared in my video, I was genuinely ashamed and wanted to do whatever I could in that moment to make sure I never made that careless mistake again."

Before he was eventually voted off the island, Austin Shepard was another contestant who faced racism allegations, which he has denied. During an Instagram Q&A, Austin answered one fan's question about being "a racist bigot in the villa."

"I have a Black woman tattooed on my side," he stated in the Q&A, per Cosmopolitan.

While Taylor Williams' Love Island controversies didn't involve racial slurs, they were just as scandalous. Early into the season, he was accused of already having a girlfriend after TikToker @sammysamslife shared screenshots of alleged texts between him and a woman named RiRi. In the messages,Taylor reportedly told RiRi he had been asked to join the show last minute. He also allegedly told her, "But don't worry. I plan on coming back to you when I come back. Just wanted to communicate and tell you so you're not blindsided."

Taylor never addressed the rumors. However, he continued getting into girl drama on the show. After declaring his connection to Olandria early in the season, he shocked fans when he decided to prioritize his romance with Casa Amor Bombshell Clarke Carraway. Taylor and Clarke were removed from Love Island soon after.

Stream Love Island USA exclusively on Peacock.