Love Island USA removes cast member after resurfaced racial slur videos

Peacock removed Vasana Montgomery from the Love Island USA Season 8 cast after old videos circulated online and allegedly showed her using the N-word, a move that came just days before the season was set to reach viewers. The decision turned a pre-broadcast casting problem into a public accountability test, with the platform acting before the first episode aired.

Season 8 is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, June 2, at 6 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. ET on Peacock, with Ariana Madix returning as host. Peacock announced the cast on May 28, and Montgomery was among the names unveiled only days before her removal. The timing underscores how quickly social media archives can force a streaming service to revisit a casting decision before the audience ever sees the contestant on screen.

The franchise has now been pushed into the same controversy repeatedly. During Season 7, Yulissa Escobar was removed in the second episode after podcast clips resurfaced showing her using racial slurs. Later that season, Cierra Ortega also exited after backlash over resurfaced racist social media posts. Variety described Montgomery’s removal as the second year in a row that Love Island USA had to remove an islander for using the N-word, while The Grio reported it marked the third time in less than two seasons that the Peacock dating series had parted ways with a contestant over past racial-slur use.

That pattern raises a broader institutional question for reality television: what exactly do producers and platforms screen for before contestants are announced, and how much of that vetting is preventive rather than reactive? In Montgomery’s case, the removal came only after online videos spread widely, suggesting that the real gatekeeping now happens not just inside casting offices but in the live scrutiny of viewers, former classmates, podcast clips and social-media archives.

Peacock has not laid out a public standard in the reporting reviewed for how it weighs old online behavior against current casting decisions, and Montgomery has not publicly addressed the removal. What is clear is that the show’s pre-airing policing is getting stricter because the reputational cost of delay is immediate. For a franchise built on rapid-turnover spectacle, the scrutiny now begins long before the villa doors open.