Another contestant of Love Island USA Season 7 has left the villa. On Episode 30, which aired about a week before the finale of Season 7, it was announced that Cierra had exited the show. And while LIUSA didn’t announce the reason besides stating it was a “personal situation,” fans deduced it could’ve been because of photos that surfaced showing Cierra using a racist slur against people of East Asian descent. (Her Campus reached out to Cierra’s team for comment, but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.) In the aftermath of Cierra’s exit, her family apparently took to her Instagram to post a statement on her behalf.
The racists posts in question came to light on TikTok and Reddit the week of June 30. In them, Cierra reportedly used the same C-word slur — once in an Instagram caption in 2015 and again in an Instagram Stories post in 2024. In the IG Stories post, Cierra showed herself getting botox and apparently wrote, “Botox isn’t for everyone but I love it for me!!! I am incredibly expressive with my face and I catch myself frowning for no reason throughout the day when I’m focusing on something or thinking too hard lol. I can also be a little c****y when I laugh/smile so I love getting a mini brow lift to open up my eyes and get that snatched look.” After the posts started going viral, a Change.org petition was started called “Send Cierra Home,” which had garnered over 17,000 signatures.
The statement on Cierra’s Instagram, which was posted on July 6, reads, “As Cierra’s parents, this has been one of the most painful weeks of our lives. We’ve seen the posts, the headlines, the hurt and the hate. And while Cierra hasn’t seen any of it yet, we have. And so have the people who love her.” Her parents 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.”
Her parents said that at the time of the Instagram post, Cierra was no longer in the villa, but she was still away and hadn’t seen the posts circulating online yet. “She hasn’t had the chance to process any of this or speak for herself. But we know our daughter. We know her heart. And when she returns, we believe she’ll face this with honesty, growth, and grace,” they wrote.
At the time of her exit, Cierra was coupled up with Nic Vansteenberghe, and the pair was one of the strongest in the villa. After Cierra left, Nic said in a confessional that when Cierra was there, “I knew what the future would look like. And now I’m lost.”
Cierra has yet to address the posts or her parents’ statement herself.