Love Island star 'dumped from villa after posts with racial slur surface'
The 25-year-old influencer, who boasts 715k followers on Instagram, left the reality show on Sunday 'due to a personal situation' shortly after a historic video of her discussing Botox treatments went viral.
During the February 2023 clip she uses a derogatory term for Chinese people which has been heavily criticised by those circulating the video and, per People, she used it once before in 2015.
Ortega has not directly addressed the controversy but her parents, who are currently controlling her social media, released a statement on her Instagram story on Sunday confirming she was not yet back online.
They called it 'one of the most painful weeks of our lives' and addressed 'the hurt and the hate' they had seen.
Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you.
The message continued: 'We're not here to justify or ignore what's surfaced.
'We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what's happening online right now has gone far beyond that. The threats. The cruel messages.
'The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it's heartbreaking. It's uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they've made.'
They added that Ortega – who was paired with costar Nic Vansteenberghe during the Iain Stirling hosted show – had not yet 'processed' what had happened but believed she would face this with 'with honesty, growth, and grace.'
'While she'll always be our little girl, she's also a woman, one who will take responsibility in her own time and her own voice.
'Until then, we're simply asking for compassion. For patience. For basic human decency. Not just for her, but for everyone caught in the middle of this,' they concluded.
Ortega is not the first season seven contestant to be removed from the villa following the re-emergence of past racial remarks.
Yulissa Escobar exited the show after just one episode although little explanation for her sudden departure was offered on the show.
At the same time, TMZ had obtained clips of the reality star using the N-word on two separate occasions. More Trending
Meanwhile, at the end of last month, it emerged that original Love Island USA star Cashel Barnett, 34, had been accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in front of the former couple's one-year-old child.
He was arrested in Utah on charges relating to assault, aggravated assault, and domestic violence in the presence of a child.
View More »
Metro has reached out to Cierra Ortega and NBC for comment.
Got a story?
If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
MORE: Surprise, Surprise: The Blind Date reboot already sounds awful
MORE: Inside Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury's £4,000,000 sprawling 'dream' mansion
MORE: People are amazed by 'best episode of TV show they've seen in years'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
19 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Love Island star admits she ‘just wanted a free holiday' and moans show was ‘hard work'
The star showed off her recent boob job earlier this year THE TRUTH IS... Love Island star admits she 'just wanted a free holiday' and moans show was 'hard work' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A LOVE Island star has admitted that she 'just wanted a free holiday' and moaned about how much 'hard work' the show was. Lana Jenkins appeared on the hit dating show in 2023 where she finished as a runner-up alongside then partner Ron Hall. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 A Love Island star has admitted that she 'just wanted a free holiday' and moaned about how much 'hard work' the show was Credit: Instagram 4 Lana appeared on the hit dating show in 2023 Credit: Eroteme 4 The blonde beauty finished as a runner-up alongside then partner Ron Hall Credit: Eroteme But now, in a Q&A with her Instagram followers, the blonde beauty has said she was just after a free holiday. Have YOU got a story or an amazing picture or video? Email exclusive@ and you could even get PAID A fan asked Lana: 'What surprised you the most about your time in the villa?' To which she replied: 'How hard work it was,' followed by a string of laughing emojis. She went on: 'I was just after a free holiday and a cheeky flirt.' Lana's comments come as a very dramatic Casa Amor recoupling hit the villa on Wednesday night. The makeup artist, 27, has stayed in the spotlight since leaving the villa - and recently showed off the results of her new boob job. Lana posed in the tiny top and matching bike shorts outside a gym while wearing a cafe coloured headband and tortoiseshell glasses. She shared the photos to Instagram, including a pic of her posing happily in a polaroid and pouting to the camera while sitting in a car. "From today," she captioned the post. Love Island's Lana Jenkins strips off to see-through underwear to show off secret boob job after split with Ron Lana announced she'd had breast surgery during a Get Ready With Me TikTok video filmed in Sydney, Australia, in February. "I will address my boobs," she said. "Yes, I have had my boobs done. For myself and myself only. I will talk about it in due course." In a later video, Lana explained how the process had been a long time coming. She explained: "Not only did I feel small chested but I also felt one boob was bigger than the other. That is actually due to my spine, believe it or not. "I have a condition called scoliosis, which is when your spine isn't straight. You probably won't be able to tell because mine is mild, but I can tell, I can see it. She then explained how it is normal and natural to have one boob bigger than the other, but she felt hers was more noticeable than average. Lana first booked to have surgery three years ago and revealed she began thinking of having a boob job 10 years ago. She postponed her first booked surgery after getting a new job and then Love Island pushed it back further. Lana said: "In life you do have to do things that make you happy and this is something I wanted to do." The reality TV beauty split from her Love Island partner Ron Hall three months after last year's winter edition of the show. The couple blamed distance and their busy schedules for the split, but maintain they are still good friends.
Daily Mirror
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Victoria Beckham shares sweet snaps of 'best friend' Harper on her birthday
Victoria Beckham, who shares her children with David Beckham, posted a gushing birthday message to her youngest child - and only daughter - Harper Seven as the teen turned 14 years old Victoria Beckham was quick off the mark to wish her youngest child a happy birthday with a sweet montage of throwback snaps and clips. The Spice Girl, 51, sharply posted to Instagram to mark the 14th birthday of her "best friend" Harper. The singer turned fashionista's gushing message began: "Happy birthday to my world!!" She went on: "You are my everything and I'm so proud of the strong, confident, kind and talented young lady you are becoming. "You're my best friend and I'm so lucky I get to be your mummy. We love you so so much #HarperSeven!! Enjoy your special day!! Kisses @davidbeckham xxx". Among the sweet uploads was a shot of Victoria pregnant with Harper. She also posted a number of adorable videos of a young Harper following in her mum's musical footsteps. Among the songs performed by the youngster were Call Me Maybe. She also sang along to one of her mum's most popular songs from the Spice Girls, Stop. Other shots included Harper playing the flute, sitting on a motorcycle with her dad, David Beckham, and writing a family message in the sand. Victoria's message was quickly praised by her followers in the comments section. One wrote: "Precious moments!!! Happy birthday beautiful." And another added: "Just a regular girl loving the same things we all did growing up. Well done. She's lovely." Victoria wasn't the only Beckham to be sharing an early morning message to the youngest of the clan, either. Romeo was on hand to send his sister some birthday love, too. He took to his Instagram Story to share his own special post. As he uploaded a snap of the pair hugging, he wrote: "Happy 14th to the most amazing human there is. Love you always and forever." He signed off with two red love heart emojis. The outpour of love comes as the family still deals with the fallout involving David and Victoria's eldest chid, Brooklyn Beckham. It's reported Harper has idolised her oldest brother Brooklyn since she was a young child, but friction has developed within the family since Brooklyn's no-show at Sir David's birthday bash. A source recently said of the situation: "Brooklyn and Harper used to be inseparable. He adored her, he hopefully still does, but the problem is that Brooklyn has a track record for ignoring family birthdays now." Speaking to Mail Online, the source said: "Harper's birthday has always been such a happy day, she's the adored little daughter so it's always so joyous but this is a tough situation. "Brooklyn was 12 when Harper was born, he was so important in her life and it must be terribly sad that she isn't seeing him since the fall out with David and Victoria happened." It is believed Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz, who married in April 2022 at her family's £76million Florida mansion, no longer speak to Sir David and Lady Beckham. And the fallout has left those close to the family fearful of an affect on Harper.
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
Too Much is Netflix's best ever comedy – I've already binged it twice
Lena Dunham's Girls will always hold a special place in my heart. I was almost exactly the same age as Hannah Horvath when she boldly declared to her parents in the opening episode: 'I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least, a voice of a generation.' I, too, was an aspiring writer who had just moved to the big city with dreams of living like Carrie Bradshaw – in a cosy apartment, with a wardrobe worth more than any house I'd ever lived in, all paid for by my weekly column. Turns out, a weekly column gets you a day's rent in a Brixton flat share – if you're lucky. Somewhat ironically, and somewhat predictably, when HBO trusts a 25-year-old to write the definitive millennial comedy, Dunham did become that voice of a generation. Wake up to find news on your TV shows in your inbox every morning with Metro's TV Newsletter. Sign up to our newsletter and then select your show in the link we'll send you so we can get TV news tailored to you. Hannah and her friends – Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams), Jessa Johansson (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet) – summed up everything brilliant and completely awful about almost everyone I knew at the time. We were self-centred, wildly immature, totally directionless, but we loved everyone and everything we knew so hard. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Thirteen years after Girls ended, Dunham's career has been quieter than many expected, especially after being worshipped as the Bob Dylan of television comedy. She's rarely appeared on screen herself, though she's continued to write smaller-budget comedies that drip with her signature awkward, quirky charm, even if none quite hit the same mark. With the possible exception of Fleabag, few shows have truly deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as Girls. But her new 10-episode comedy, Too Much, is an instant classic. It's no exaggeration to say that, as soon as it ended, I knew it would be one of my favourite television shows of all time. I'm writing this six weeks before Too Much launches on Netflix. That's six weeks of not being able to share the bubbling excitement that there will be moments from Too Much that pop into my head at random for the rest of my life – and I'll find myself laughing uncontrollably on the tube, in my local Co-op, or while walking down the street. When television is truly great – when its characters feel like real people – there's a kind of magic that leaks into real life. I'm not a fantasist; I understand fiction. But Chandler Bing, Samantha Jones, Frasier Crane, and Buffy Summers are all heroes of mine who've made my life infinitely better just by being in it. Too Much is one of those rare gems, with characters destined to stay with you for life and have the same impact. Meg Stalter stars as Jessica, who's reeling from the end of a relationship. She's moved back in with three generations of single women – and her nephew – at their family home in New York. Increasingly isolated after a brutal breakup, her only solution is to accept a job in London and start over in solitude, imagining herself as a Brontë sister… in Hackney. The estate she moves to isn't quite the Downton Abbey she'd pictured – it's a council estate in Hoxton. On her first night, she meets Felix. Their connection is instant. Too Much perfectly captures what it feels like to fall in love with a stranger in your 30s, with all the excitement and anxiety that come with it. The parallels between Jessica and Stalter's chaotic Kayla from Hacks are too clear to be accidental. It's hard to imagine Too Much getting off the ground without her. Her distinctive, offbeat humour is Jessica's greatest strength. Stalter was already the highlight of Hacks, but in Too Much, she proves she's far more than a quirky one-trick pony. Yes, she's predictably hilarious – her delivery is unmatched, even on lines that seem pointless to quote out of context – but when needed, she is breathtaking. She can be devastating and wickedly funny in the same breath. She might even be the only person capable of denying her Hacks co-star Jean Smart a third Golden Globe for Deborah Vance. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Felix, on paper, may not seem exceptional, but he's kind and sincere in a way rarely seen in characters like him. As the series unfolds, his layers reveal themselves to be both surprising and deeply compelling. Will Sharpe, riding high from The White Lotus and A Real Pain, truly shines here. This feels like his moment. Together, Stalter and Sharpe are unmissable: one of the all-time great couples on television. Richard E Grant and Naomi Watts steal one episode that deserves to be studied for its comic timing, rivalling the very best of British comedy. I had to rewind one of Watts' lines multiple times, wheezing with laughter. There's also a headline-grabbing cameo from Jennifer Saunders that, for reasons I won't spoil, is bound to become one of the standout TV moments of the year. Even Rita Ora manages to hold her own in a cast packed with greatness. More Trending But perhaps most impressive is how Dunham writes about Britain and its eccentric characters better than many Brits have managed since the comedy heyday of Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses. Maybe it helps to arrive in Britain as an outsider, but Too Much is a heartfelt, hilarious love letter to Dunham's new home in London. One that tells the truth, pulls no punches, yet brims with affection and admiration. It's genuinely moving. Rarely do I find a show I want to watch again and again, but by the time Too Much finally premieres, I fear how many times I'll have rewatched it already. I imagine at least three… and then I'll jump at any excuse to watch again, this time with friends. View More » Too Much is available to stream on Netflix now. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: 'Painful to watch' action sequel dominates Netflix chart with 37,000,000 views MORE: Emotional Netflix fans moved by Liam Payne tribute in new Building The Band series MORE: Netflix 'masterpiece' breaks another record with 106,000,000 views in just 12 days
