Axed Love Island star Sherif Lanre has shared his take on a discussion that is currently going on over his removal from the show.
Sherif and Love Island producers reached a mutual agreement last week that he should leave the villa, after jokingly referring to an accidental moment of physical contact between himself and another contestant as a “cunt-punt”.
However, fans of the show have since pointed out that while Sherif was removed for his use of the vulgar term, last year’s contestant Ellie Brown referred to another contestant as an “ugly cunt” but was still allowed to stay in the villa…
Sherif was asked about this apparent double-standard during an appearance on Victoria Derbyshire’s BBC show, admitting there may be some “unconscious bias” among Love Island producers.
He said: “I feel that the people in charge of the show maybe have an unconscious bias around the regulations for boys and girls, and maybe different races and stuff like that.
“But yeah, I feel like with the Ellie situation, I didn’t even know about it until I came home… but I feel like in that instance, that [the c-word] was directed at someone, that was used as a bit more with malicious intent. Whereas mine was used as kind of more like a joke, but in hindsight it wasn’t acceptable and it was kind of like a vile word.”
During the interview, Sherif also maintained that he was removed for his use of the term “cunt-punt”, rather than accidentally kicking fellow contestant Mollie-Mae Hague in the groin.
“I was mucking about with Mollie-Mae, quite simply,” he explained. “It’s been blown out of proportion, but I accidentally caught her in the groin, and went on to joke about it using some crude language, which I don’t condone. And that was against the rules and regulations set out before I went in there.
“But I don’t know who saw it and what context they took it in, but she wasn’t in pain and she was uninjured. [I] left the good villa on good terms [with her], and we had a good friendship.”
When asked whether he would like to apologise, Sherif added: “I’ve already issued my public apology, and that’s out there for people to see.
A rep for Love Island: “We take any instance of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and we speak to all of the islanders to remind them of what we condone to be acceptable behaviour during their time on the show.
“We would strongly refute any accusation of racism. All of the Islanders are treated fairly and in accordance with our duty of care.”
Over the weekend, Sherif gave his first interview since leaving Love Island, claiming that one of his unnamed co-stars had “repeatedly” used the n-word while rapping a Drake song in the villa.
A Love Island rep has since responded to this, saying there is no video evidence to suggest this incident took place despite the Islanders being “monitored… 24/7”.
Victoria Derbyshire airs on BBC Two at 10am on weekdays.