CNN
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Cierra Ortega, whose recent dramatic exit from the popular reality series “Love Island USA” caused a stir, has broken her silence.
Viewers have been searching for answers after her exit a week before the dating show’s Season 7 finale, which the series attributed to a “personal situation.”
There was no further explanation, but social media posts from 2015 and 2023 had circulated online that appeared to show Ortega using a racial slur, according to reporting by the Daily Mail.
Ortega posted a video on social media on Wednesday and said had time to “process” what happened and made clear that she was not “the victim.”
“While I was in the villa, there were some posts that resurfaced from my past where I was very naively using an incredibly offensive and derogatory term,” she said. “Before I get into the details, I want to first start by addressing not just anyone that I have hurt or deeply offended, but most importantly, the entire Asian community.”
Ortega said she was “deeply, truly, honestly so sorry.”
“I had no idea that the word held as much pain, as much harm and came with the history that it did or I never would have used it,” she said. “I had no ill intention when I was using it, but that’s absolutely no excuse because intent doesn’t excuse ignorance.”
The 25-year-old said hers wasn’t an “apology video,” but one of accountability and reiterated that she “genuinely didn’t know it was a slur.”
Ortega also posted a statement in her Instagram Stories, writing, “I do not, and have never, condoned racism or the repression of any cultural group in any form.”
“I would never intentionally use any word, especially a slur, to tear down anyone’s culture or community,” she wrote.
She also referenced having been “called out for it in 2024,” explaining she was corrected by a follower after using the slur in an Instagram post, which Ortega said left her feeling “embarrassed.”
The Season 7 finale of “Love Island USA” will air Sunday, July 13 on NBC.
CNN’s Alli Rosenbloom contributed to this report.