A little over three weeks ago, Love Island US announced their Season 2 winners. If you are anything like me, this season you became obsessed with Justine and Caleb, coined “Jaleb” by their fans on Twitter. The couple *spoiler* won season 2 and is the first Black couple to ever win the series, which is filmed in the UK, Australia, and United States. Fans took to Twitter all season to rally for Jaleb, encouraging everyone to vote for the couple on the Love Island app. It was a tweet the night of the results that read “For those happy about the #LoveIsland finale: this is why we vote,” that I realized the unparalleled resemblance between a reality show filled with young singles and the Presidential election.
Below are 6 similarities between the Presidential election and season 2 of Love Island:
- VOTING!
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This is an obvious one. When you vote and ensure others vote, you get results, which hopefully are the outcome you want. This presidential election is perhaps the most important election to occur, at least within the span of many of our life times. We are not just voting for a President, we are voting for climate change, human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, racial justice, education, fair taxation, health care access and so much more. While voting on Love Island is obviously not as big of an ordeal as voting for the next US President, the fact that Justine and Caleb, who weren’t initial front runners, won goes to show how important voting is. However, unlike Love Island’s voting system which goes off the popular vote, the United States still relies on the Electoral College System. Ironically, in 2012, Trump tweeted “The electoral college is a disaster for democracy.” If you live in a swing state or go to university in a swing state, like University of Wisconsin-Madison, make sure to vote there if you can!
- A Man Who Cares
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Caleb was in Love Island to find love, not to win. Biden is running for President to better America, not just to win. Okay, yes, I know Biden is obviously in the Presidential race to win (which hopefully he does), but Biden’s focus does not emulate Trump’s “I need to win” mentality. Arguably, and I know this is a huge (in Donald Trump’s voice) stretch, Johnny was the Trump of the season, while Caleb was Biden. Johnny seemed to have his sight set on the money rather than his love interest, Cely, similar to how Trump is set on winning no matter the cost to the American people. Caleb did not have his eyes on the $100,000 prize throughout the season; Justine was his ~prize~. Winning $50,000 each was just an added bonus. While obviously Biden also has his eyes on the prize of winning the Presidential race (please, vote!!), his main focus is actually making America great, or at the very least restoring it pre-Trump.
- Black Visibility
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All throughout the season, Cely and Johnny were the frontrunners to win the $100,000. They had been coupled up since Day 2 and had a solid relationship. That was until Casa Amor. After Johnny’s cheating scandal, Justine and Caleb’s natural chemistry and connection made America realize they were the obvious choice to win Love Island— and honestly, win at love in general. The only problem? Producers continued to give Cely and Johnny way more screen time. This became extremely clear when almost an entire episode was devoted to Johnny asking Cely to be his girlfriend, but Justine and Caleb’s hideaway footage was never shown. While Cely and Johnny are also POC, many have speculated that it was Justine’s darker complexion and Caleb’s proud Blackness that made their time on screen less visible. Black visibility has also been a problem all throughout Trump’s presidency. Back in 2017, Trump’s cabinet was 84.6% White, 4.5% Black, 0.0% Hispanic, and 9.1% Asian— the worst Presidential cabinet makeup since 1980. Additionally, in June, an image of Obama’s interns versus Trump’s interns went viral. The difference? Take a look for yourself.
- Racist Remarks
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Maybe the most shocking, at least to me, were the racist remarks coming from POC on the Love Island cast. Rachel, Mike, and Tre, Black contestants from the show, have continually shaded Justine and/or had resurfaced tweets that are anti-Black. Both Mike and Tre have had tweets resurface about how they prefer lighter skinned women over dark-skinned Black women. Tre stated in the now deleted tweet from 2014, “I want my future kids to be mixed with something else,” insinuating he didn’t want his kids to have a Black mother, with Mike having a similar tweet about preferring other-raced women over Black women. Both men vied for Justine’s attention, so it makes you wonder if this was a tactic to merely stay in the villa. Can you think of another man with racist remarks aiming to stay in his residence? Why, none other than Donald Trump. Trump has too many racist remarks to list off, so if you are interested, click here for a list of Trump’s racist history. In the meantime, some examples include:
1989: Trump placed an advertisement in the New York Times calling for the death of the “Central Park Five,” teens who were accused of attacking and raping a jogger in New York City (with no admissible proof). Trump, 25 years before his presidency, ran the ad: “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!” The teens were later exonerated of the crime, but when asked in a 2016 interview his opinion of the case, Trump said he still believes they’re guilty, despite the DNA evidence to the contrary.
2005: We all know of Trump’s show The Apprentice, but in 2005, the now president took the show a little too far, pitching “The Apprentice: White People vs. Black People.”
2011: Trump tried to claim that not only was Barack Obama not born in the United States, but that he wasn’t a good enough student to have gotten into Columbia or Harvard Law School. He demanded Obama release his university transcripts. Would he have done this for successful white politicians? I think not. Trump claimed, “I heard he was a terrible student. Terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?”
2016: In a pitch to Black voters in Dimondale, Michigan in 2016, Trump said, “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”
2020: Trump has continuously called the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus the “Chinese virus” and “kung flu.” Due to this offensive language, and disease stigmatizing, Asian Americans have reported hateful incidents targeting them due to the spread of the coronavirus.
2020: After the announcement of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s Vice President candidate, Trump suggested that Harris, who’s Black and South Asian, “doesn’t meet the requirements” to be Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate.
- Obscenity and Bodily Autonomy
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You may be thinking, what was so obscene about Love Island? Arguably, nothing. However, toward the end of the season, a new contestant, Noah Purvis, was added to the villa, yet quickly removed. Further investigation reveals that Noah had previously appeared in adult films, resulting in the producers removing him from the show. In 2020, this seems like a strange reason to remove someone from a reality show as there does not seem to be much regulation on the pornography industry in the US. Although this is correct due to the 1973 Miller Test ruling of obscenity, you would be surprised to know that obscenity laws in the United States are actually more regulated now than ever before— largely due to politics and conservative Republicans. Trump has a very conservative stance on obscenity, having claimed to crack down on the pronography industry back in 2016 (my guess is that he said this to get the religious vote much like how he switched his stance to pro-life when he joined the Republican ticket). Although not much can be said about his stance on pornography, Trump has been a vocal advocate against abortion. Throughout Trump’s term, he has added two anti-abortion conservative justices to the Supreme Court, with the current nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, who is a proponent in overturning Roe v. Wade. On the other hand, Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, made it clear that she is for women’s reproductive rights.
- Emotional Instability
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Love Island Season 2 was filled with crying and crying babies. On the other hand, Trump is simply a cry baby.
Love Island US Season 2 and the Presidential Election strangely have a lot of similarities, though I’d watch Love Island over the Presidential Debate any day. If you take away anything from this article, it’s this: Go VOTE!