Love Island star Tina Provis slams Cierra Ortega's apology for use of anti-Asian slurs on Love Island USA as she reveals childhood pain
The Love Island Australia winner, 29, penned a lengthy post to Instagram on Thursday after Cierra, 25, was booted from the Love Island USA villa due to mounting backlash over her use of the slur 'chink' in past social media posts.
'Love Island USA removed a contestant for a racist slur that resurfaced online. Let's talk about why this is important,' Tina began in her post.
'In my experience, Anti-Asian racism has always been quickly brushed off.
'The same people that want to fall back 'but I didn't know it was racist' are the SAME PEOPLE complaining when you make a stand up and point out why something is racist,' Tina said.
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On Wednesday, Cierra issued an 'accountability' video, in which she said she is 'truly deeply sorry' for using a racial slur and reiterated that she 'didn't fully understand' the meaning behind the offensive term.
'I do not, and have never, condoned racism or the repression of any cultural group in any form,' Cierra wrote.
'I would never intentionally use any word, especially a slur, to tear down anyone's culture or community. When I used that word, I didn't fully understand what it meant or how much pain it carries.'
The backlash against her began earlier this month, when fans discovered two social media posts (from January 2015 and February 2023) in which Cierra had described her own smile as 'chinky' and said that she wanted Botox for her eyes.
Tina, who won Love Island Australia in 2021 with her ex-partner Mitch Hibberd and has also starred on I'm A Celebrity! Get Me Outta Here, questioned how Cierra could not have known the meaning of the word.
'If you're calling out an ethnic groups features as undesirable, it is racist,' she wrote.
'If we continue to let comments slide because they 'aren't that racist' or 'they didn't meant to be racist', then we're excusing and encouraging a culture of casual racism.'
The Chinese-Australian then revealed how 'insecure' anti-Asian slurs made her feel about her appearance whilst was growing up in Sydney.
'There was a time where my eyes were one of my biggest insecurities, because from an early age I faced casual racism,' Tina said.
On Sunday night's episode which streamed on Peacock, narrator Iain Stirling confirmed that Love Island USA contestant Cierra Ortega (pictured) 'left the villa due to a personal situation' and had left Nic Vansteenberghe 'officially single'
By the time she was 18-years-old, Tina turned to heavy makeup in attempts to alter her appearance because she'd so often hear friends say they 'looked Asian' if they didn't like a photo of themselves.
'If I was getting dressed up, I never would be seen without dark eyeshadow, attempting to 'hide' my eyelids and I would've screamed seeing a picture of myself like this without false lashes,' she said.
Tina also recalled being teased in primary school, including one incident where a male classmate chased her around the playground whilst pulling back his eyelids.
'I've come a long way in becoming confident in my identity and that's why I have these conversations, I want other young people to feel the same,' Tina concluded in her post.
However, Tina said she's not surprised by the sheer volume of people defending Cierra online.
'I'm not shocked to see that a lot of people online are defending her, because the slur that she used is "not as bad" as other racial slurs,' she said.
'There are hundreds of comments of people claiming that they didn't even know it was a derogatory comment, which just goes to show how anti-Asian racism is downplayed and tolerated much more than it would be in other communities.'
Cierra is the second person to be removed from Love Island USA this season over past remarks, with Yulissa Escobar abruptly outsed for using the N-word in past social media posts.
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