Alannah Keyser, aged 21, has been ousted as the second participant from the ongoing season of Love Island USA for using a racial epithet in a video that resurfaced online. The removal occurred shortly after the young college student from Miami made a dramatic entrance during the Casa Amor episodes in the reality dating series on Peacock.
Following her arrival at the villa on June 21, a Snapchat video emerged showing Keyser seemingly singing along to a song containing a racially insensitive term. The song in question is believed to be rapper Roddy Ricch’s hit track “The Box.”
In a familiar fashion for the series, Love Island USA narrator Iain Stirling acknowledged Keyser’s sudden departure in the episode that aired on Thursday, stating, “Alannah has left Casa Amor.”
After her initial appearance on Season 8, where she seemed to form a connection with contestant Zach Georgiou, viewers noticed a decrease in Keyser’s screen time. Some Reddit users observed her significant absence from Tuesday’s episode.
Keyser’s situation is not unique to this season or the franchise as a whole. Prior to the TV premiere of Season 8, Vasana Montgomery was removed from the cast due to the resurfacing of a video where she used a racial slur.
Last year, two participants from Season 7 were also removed in separate incidents. Yulissa Escobar was ousted after clips of her using offensive language on a podcast surfaced, leading to her issuing an apology on Instagram. Shortly after, Cierra Ortega was also removed for similar reasons, with her issuing an apology on TikTok.
CBC News attempted to reach out to Keyser for a statement but received no response before publication.