'Love Island USA' contestant Huda Mustafa apologises to Olandria Carthen for laughing at racial slur
Photo: Peacock
Huda Mustafa from Love Island USA Season 7 has issues an aplogy to fellow contestant Olandria Carthen for her reaction to a racial slur that was uttered during a livestream hosted by Mustafa's boyfriend Louis Russell.
During a recent Instagram live on, the pair answered a phone call from an unknown caller who used the N-word.
Video shared online by TMZ shows the couple seemingly surprised, chuckling before ending the call with video showing Russel saying: "Whoa, hey, hey."
Wtf this is just wrong and they laughing ? pic.twitter.com/rVGx6ClhJN
Carthen, who starred alongside Mustafa in the last season of Love Island USA, called the language unacceptable in a statement shared on her Instagram Story on Wednesday.
"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."
She pledged a personal donation to organizations that aid the Black community, such as UNCF, NAACP and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, encouraging others to do the same.
Photo: Instagram
Meanwhile, Mustafa's apology did come, although after undermining the outrage over her reaction,
Mustafa said she took the majority of the day to reflect and collect her thoughts to ensure her statement did not come off as disingenuous.
"I want to begin by saying I completely respect Olandria and it’s extremely disheartening that anyone, especially a presumed child, would find it excusable to use this type of language, and doing so only underlines the ignorance of the gravity that such a word carries," Mustafa said.
She added that she would make a personal donation to the NAACP and encouraged others to do the same.
Mustafa initially addressed the backlash for the livestream by sharing a statement on her Instagram story Tuesday night. The 25-year-old called the language used "offensive" and said that she laughed due to confusion over the comment and because she felt awkward.
Emphasizing that she "didn't condone anything of the sort" Mustafa clarified that she "just wanted to address this before it blows out of proportion."