"Love Island USA" star Olandria Carthen has publicly condemned a racist slur that was used during a livestream hosted by fellow Season 7 contestant Huda Mustafa and her boyfriend Louis Russell.
During a recent livestream on Russell's Instagram, Mustafa and Russell, who starred in Season 3 of Netflix's "Perfect Match," answered a phone call from an unknown caller who used the N-word. Video shared online by TMZ shows the pair seemingly taken aback, laughing before ending the call with video showing Russel saying: "Whoa, hey, hey."
Carthen, who starred alongside Mustafa in the recent season of the hit dating show, called the language unacceptable in a statement shared on her Instagram Story on Wednesday, Oct. 29, adding that she does not condone racism of any kind, "not in anger, not as a joke, not ever."
"Words like that carry generations of pain, and pretending otherwise only keeps the cycle going," Carthen said. "Defending it, laughing about it, or making excuses is even worse. I will not let this moment derail my purpose of uplifting my community. I'm standing firm in who I am and using this as an opportunity to call for real accountability and awareness."
USA TODAY has reached out to Mustafa's and Russell's representatives for comment.
