Vasana Montgomery Dismissed Ahead of Love Island Season 8 Premiere

Vasana Montgomery is out of love island season 8 days before the premiere. The 25-year-old from Beaverton, Oregon, will no longer appear on the series after resurfaced videos showed her using the N-word.

A Peacock spokesperson said the videos were privately owned and did not circulate publicly until after Montgomery’s announcement. The company also said the material was inaccessible to vet before her removal, a reminder that cast-screening gaps can surface after production is already locked.

Season 7 Fallout

This is the second year in a row the American version of the U.K. format has lost a contestant over racist comments. In June 2025, Yulissa Escobar left the villa a day after the Season 7 premiere after a clip surfaced of her uttering the N-word repeatedly.

A month later, Cierra Ortega was removed from Season 7 after using an offensive racial slur against Asians. Ortega later called her message an “accountability video” and said, “This is an accountability video. I do want to hold my hands up and say that I take accountability for using the word, but I do want it to be known that I genuinely had no idea that it was a slur. I had no idea of its meaning.”

June 2 Premiere

June 2 is now the important date for viewers and advertisers tracking the season’s opening week. Season 8 premieres at 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT, with new episodes dropping daily during premiere week except for Wednesdays thereafter.

The show’s Instagram page has already tried to steer the conversation with a PSA telling viewers to “keep it kind, keep it positive.” That line reads less like promotion than damage control, and it fits a series that has now had back-to-back cast removals tied to racist language.

For the franchise, the issue is no longer a one-off casting mistake. If the series wants to protect the launch of Season 8, it has to get ahead of the cast narrative before the villa becomes the headline again.