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How do you get kicked off 'Love Island' before the love begins? Yulissa Escobar shows us

Christie D’Zurilla, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Entertainment News

LOS ANGELES — Want to succeed in reality show love? It might be best to keep your public life free of racial slurs.

“Love Island USA” contestant Yulissa Escobar, whose use of the N-word on a couple of podcasts surfaced over the weekend before the show’s rocky premiere Tuesday, was there and then gone in a heartbeat. A mere blip in love-competition TV’s continuum of smokin’ hot contestants.

She used the N-word casually and naturally in conversation, per video posted on Reddit and TMZ. She did not appear to be using it with disparaging intent — but the word is still racist on its face.

“They’re gonna get cancelled so bad and not like I care but they should be protecting them from mass cancellation like this by not casting them in the first place,” one Reddit user said.

Plus, Escobar had been partnered on the show with contestant Ace Greene, who is Black. Here’s how that selection went, according to Vulture: “The last to choose is Yulissa. I get the sense that someone once called her a ‘real firecracker’ and she’s been trying to live up to that ever since. She has clearly been waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble, so she aims her lips directly at Ace and they lock in. This goes on for a while.”

Before “Love Island USA” even premiered, fans and haters on social media were making plans to vote Escobar off as fast as they could. But the show beat them to it.

“Welcome back to ‘Love Island USA,’” narrator Iain Stirling said 18 minutes into the second episode of Season 7, which streamed Wednesday. “Yulissa has left the villa.” No other details were given.

“I can confirm Yulissa has left the villa,” a representative of the show told The Times on Thursday. No other details were given there either.

 

So viewers are left to connect the dots on their own — but seriously, those are some pretty huge, flashing-neon dots. Nobody needs that kind of attention, right? At least nobody in the reality TV business does.

The process to audition for “Love Island USA” seems fairly intense, with applicants asked off the bat for their social media usernames and quizzed as to whether they have an OnlyFans page or have ever done porn (sorry, they call it “Adult Film”).

The casting company also wants to know whether prospects have ever cheated on anyone, the location and meaning of any tattoos, whether they have any celebrity friends and whether their parents are still together.

There’s also this: “Is there any other information we should be made aware of concerning your application (including anything in your past that may attract negative press or publicity)? If YES, please provide details.”

Looks as if Escobar didn’t think her language was going to elicit negative publicity? But hey, Greene — who does have tattoos! — is now free to find fresh talent from among his remaining cast members.

As for that rocky premiere, “Love Island USA” fans got heated Tuesday when streamer Peacock posted on social media one minute after the planned showtime, “WE GOT A TEXT! Tonight’s episode will be slightly delayed. But it is worth the wait ... Stay tuned!”

A full 40 minutes later, Season 7 got underway.


©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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