Love Island USA contestant Belle-A Walker has issued a statement following Cierra Ortega’s removal from the villa.
Cierra was pulled from the show after several posts resurfaced of her using a racial slur against the Asian community.
“As a proud Asian American woman, I’m deeply appreciative of the Love Island USA producers for taking a stand and making it clear that racism of any kind is not tolerated,” Belle-A wrote via Instagram Stories.
“When I first saw what my fellow Islander said on their social media pages, I was incredibly heartbroken. But I wanted to wait until they left the villa and were able to address the situation, genuinely apologize, and commit to learning from the experience before deciding how our relationship would look moving forward.”
Bella-A and Cierra were close in the villa before she was sent home after Nic Vansteenberghe chose to couple up with Cierra, leaving her single.
“As screenshots continued to surface, it became clear that I could no longer support this person, and made the decision to unfollow them a couple of days ago,” she continued. “Asian hate is oftentimes overlooked and dismissed. But being a first-generation American, I have personally witnessed and experienced how real and hurtful comments like these are.”
this scene is so crazy now like belle-a saying she really likes nic and both cierra and olandria agreeing (nic wanted her too) and then her silently bowing out of the love square before it could start just for them to choose each other in the end…shakespearan almost pic.twitter.com/rsdKoXr5m6
— jay | girl idk (@stormbxrnbaby) July 7, 2025
Belle-A went on to add that she hopes that this sheds light on the anti-Asian hate in the country and that she does not condone any racism or bigotry of any kind.
Love Island USA airs every day on Peacock at 9/8c except for Wednesdays.