Watch Olandria Carthen walk in Sergio Hudson runway at NYFW
Love Island USA’s Olandria Carthen made her New York Fashion Week debut in Sergio Hudson’s show with Nicolas Vansteenberghe cheering her on.
“Love Island USA” star Huda Mustafa has apologized to fellow Season 7 contestant Olandria Carthen for her reaction to a racial slur that was used during a livestream hosted by Mustafa’s 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.”
The 27-year-old model added that everybody shares responsibility in shaping a culture “where speaking to one another with respect is the standard, and where speaking against hate speech is the bare minimum.”
She vowed to make a personal donation to organizations that educate and uplift the Black community, such as UNCF, NAACP and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, encouraging others to do the same.
“While I anticipate this will result in surface level apologies that fade in a few days, I’d like to transform this moment into something actionable,” she said.
Huda apologizes to Olandria for the reaction
After initially downplaying the outrage over her reaction, Mustafa posted another statement on Wednesday publicly apologizing to Carthen.
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. She admitted that her brief statement, shared late Tuesday, Oct. 29, failed to fully take accountability for her actions.
“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 continued: “Olandria – it is now clear that this comment was targeted at you, and I apologize for my immediate reaction. My reaction in that moment came from being caught off guard, not from finding the word or situation funny. It was a nervous, uncomfortable reaction that I recognize was inappropriate. I want to be clear that I do not condone or tolerate anyone who uses such language, and I strongly encourage the individual responsible to reflect deeply on their words and the harm they’ve caused.”
She added that she would make a personal donation to the NAACP and encouraged others to do the same.
What was Huda’s original statement about the livestream?
Mustafa addressed the backlash she and Russell faced following 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.
“As you can hear me say ‘what did they say?’ and ‘they said a bad word,’ because that’s ALL i heard was the bad word,” Mustafa said. “It was awkward and inappropriate, whoever said it is in the wrong.”
She added she “didn’t condone anything of the sort” and that “whoever called purposely continuously called while we were live.”
“i really don’t condone racism which is why it was immediately hung up,” Mustafa wrote in her statement. “Once again we did not hear it very well considering it sounded like a child, only the last slur. i just wanted to address this before it blows out of proportion.”
Olandria and Huda discuss turmoil during ‘Love Island USA’ reunion
During the Season 7 reunion episode on Aug. 25, Olandria and Chelley Bissainthe discussed the rift they had with Mustafa. The two criticized Mustafa’s lack of action on the racism and bullying allegations against them online after the season concluded.
Huda also said she was hurt after seeing some clips of Chelley online, to which Chelley later apologized. Carthen added that she felt unsupported when Huda did not address her fans playing into specific narratives after the show.
“It pained me. Even when she went on there and said she was bullied, she didn’t put a name to it. (The fans) thought I was one of the bullies,” Carthen said during the reunion. “I’m glad she kind of put a name to it now and cleared that up. That (expletive) added more hate.”
Mustafa, who said she also experienced hate and racism, responded, saying, “I was dealing with so much outside of that. I didn’t know what to say in that moment because I was dealing with so much. I wanted to address more than just that.”
“I get that, but your face was not plastered on (expletive) George Floyd’s body,” Carthen replied. “Mine was. I told you that.”
Contributing: Taylor Ardrey, USA TODAY
