In this op-ed, writer Kaila Yu, the author of Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beautyargues that Love Island USA season 7’s apparent removal of Cierra Ortega due to her past usage of an anti-Asian slur is exposing how much of the general public is still dismissive of anti-Asian hate.
When Love Island USA season 7 contestant Cierra Ortega, a 25-year-old content creator, was apparently kicked off the show for using an Asian slur, I wasn’t shocked. What did shock me was the reaction I received after posting about the controversy online: non-Asians flooded my comments, arguing that the word she used isn’t a slur at all.
Ortega was removed from the dating show on July 6, with the series’ narrator sharing via voiceover that she “left the villa due to a personal situation.” Outside of the villa, a petition had been made to kick her off of the show, after social media posts made by Ortega in 2015 and 2023 using an anti-Chinese slur to describe her eyes had resurfaced. In the 2023 post, an Instagram Story, Ortega used the slur while explaining her decision to get Botox, apparently in an attempt to help widen her eyes at certain times.
After the Botox post, followers seemed to point out the racism according to other screenshots, but Ortega didn’t seem to understand the weight of using the word. One Reddit user posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a private message to Ortega sometime in 2024 after what seemed to be another use of the slur, where they wrote: “Ooo girl ‘c****y’ is so derogatory 🥴,” along with a screenshot from Wikipedia explaining the slur’s history. Ortega’s reply was, “Oh man, thankfully that’s not how I used it.”
“C****y” is never a harmless word — it is derived from “c***k,” a slur that’s been used against Chinese people and other Asian communities for decades that refers to East Asian features. It’s a demeaning word, one meant to make clear that features like mine are less desirable.
I know exactly how much that word cuts. I grew up with a deep insecurity about my own eyes, so much so that I eventually underwent double eyelid surgery, one of the most common cosmetic surgeries for East Asians. Growing up, I felt as though Asians were seen as nerdy model minorities. Our eyes were never celebrated like the wide, eyelash-framed eyes of my non-Asian friends. I felt deeply insecure about my smaller eyes and wanted my eyes to be huge, almost like anime eyes. I believed that if I sliced my eyelids, I’d transform into someone different, someone less shy or dull, someone unlike the stereotypes. So, I got double eyelid surgery.
On July 6, the same night Ortega left the villa, her family issued a statement that didn’t outright refute the legitimacy of the posts. On the evening of July 9, Ortega posted a video addressing the controversy to her social media pages — and I found her apology to be extremely genuine. She said that “intent doesn’t excuse ignorance” and that “this is not an apology video, it is an accountability video.”
About The Author
