The current Love Island USA season is facing a TON of racism controversy. Three contestants have been accused of racist behavior — and two have been kicked off the show due to using racial slurs, including most recently Cierra Ortega.
Now last season’s winner is speaking out about her experience of racism on the show — from the producers! Oh no… While chatting with Teen Vogue on Tuesday, Serena Page, who won Season 6 with her boyfriend Kordell Beckham, revealed she thought she might not make it onto the show due to an issue with her braided hair — which ironically became one of the many reasons she was so beloved! Serena reflected:
“It makes me cry because I feel like it’s something that was not accepted as much. As someone who watched Love Island so much, I watched my sisters come on there with wigs, and the thing is, I never bashed them because at the end of the day, you get approached differently as a Black woman, this is known. When you have braids, you get certain attention from men versus when you have a wig on your head, you get a different amount of attention, especially when you’re going on a show that [stars] primarily white people.”
She laughed, saying:
“The braids? Honey, you’re going home. You’re out. It was a decision, and honestly, I didn’t think that I would get put on the show solely for that reason, because I did my interviews in wigs.”
For that reason ALONE?? OMG. That’s so f**ked up!
Related: Jeremiah Reacts To Cierra’s Exit Amid ‘Weird’ Racial Slur Controversy
She recalled auditioning for the show with several different hairstyles, something the show’s creatives quickly picked up on:
“[The producers] were like, ‘You need to wear the same hair you have in this interview to the island.’”
But she was wearing a wig at the time and didn’t want to be forced to wear it the entire summer while in Fiji, she said:
“And then as I’m getting ready, I was like, ‘I’m not about to fight with my lace all summer.’ The first time I saw braids on Love Island was Justine [Joy Ndiba from Love Island Games]. That’s actually the reason I wore them, because I was like, ‘Justine wore them and she did the damn thing… I know they told me to wear this wig, but I’m about to risk it. I’m going to go get these braids.’”
Once she arrived on the island, she met up with the Peacock team for the first time in person, and they quickly called out how she “looked different.” Jeez. Serena was left in tears, she shared:
“I went back to my room and cried because I was like, ‘I’m not going on.’ It was nerve-wracking.”
Awful.
We get the producers are making a TV show and have a lot to consider, but judging and discriminating against a Black woman’s hair is a form of racism! Seems like these issues run deep in the show — and it’s not just bad casting, apparently!
Thankfully, Serena made it onto our screens, and she continued to play around with her hair regardless of what the producers thought. Little did she know many viewers at home were loving her various looks and appreciated seeing her braids since it offered great representation! See, it’s far more common to see Black women on screen with straight hair. She noted:
“It’s nice to know how well it was perceived when I got out [the villa]. I didn’t even know when I was in there that people were seeing my different styles as a thing. That’s me on the regular. I hate having one style for too long, so I would always just switch it up. I was getting bored with my braids in the villa. I almost took them out and wore my ‘fro because I was so sick of them.”
Ha! Winning is a great F U to those producers, too! While it’s good to see the show is taking the cast’s resurfaced posts this season very seriously, we hope they take a hard look at the full crew to make sure there’s no discrimination anywhere. It all matters!
Thoughts? Tell us (below)!
[Image via Peacock]
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