Peacock's Ratings Smash 'Love Island' Returns Tuesday—Already With Controversies

BreakingBusinessPeacock's Ratings Smash 'Love Island' Returns Tuesday—Already With ControversiesByConor Murray,Forbes Staff. Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.Follow AuthorJun 02, 2026, 11:42am EDTTopline“Love Island USA,” the reality dating series that smashed viewership records for Peacock last summer and became an unavoidable cultural event, returns with a new season Tuesday night—but not without controversy, as one islander has already been booted from the show for past use of a racial slur."Love Island USA" returns Tuesday night on Peacock with Ariana Madix as host. — (Photo by: Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty Images)Ben Symons/Peacock via Getty ImagesKey FactsVasana Montgomery, a 25-year-old from Oregon, won’t be part of the cast of the eighth season of “Love Island USA” as planned when the hugely popular reality show returns Tuesday night after videos surfaced of her using a slur against Black people.Peacock confirmed Montgomery was dropped from the show, and the New York Times reported the videos were privately owned and were not released until after her casting was announced, making it inaccessible while the program vetted contestants.Montgomery’s dismissal is the latest such incident for the reality show, which is no stranger to controversy: Last summer, two contestants were removed from the villa while the show was airing after previous instances of them using racial slurs resurfaced on social media.Another season eight contestant, 29-year-old Sean Reifel, is in hot water in his native Pennsylvania after the mayor of Bethlehem, J. William Reynolds, alleged Reifel ditched his job as a police officer to appear on the show, contributing to a short-staffing problem.The city paid “thousands of taxpayer dollars to send him to the police academy,” Reynolds told local outlet WHTM, saying he is “disappointed” Reifel left because the city now has “another vacancy in our department that is impossible to fill until n...