Yahoo News Ex-Love Islander Niall calls out the show for hypocrisy
Niall Aslam has called out Love Island for their statement regarding the online abuse levelled at Chloe Burrows' family and friends after she arrived in the villa earlier this week.
Yesterday (1 July) Love Island's official Twitter account released a statement calling on viewers to "think before posting, and remember that our Islanders are people with feelings," adding that Love Island will "support cast members and their families in reporting [abusive] posts."
It's thought that Love Island bosses shared this message in response to Chloe Burrows, a contestant on this years series, being bombarded with abuse and death threats over social media.
While the reaction to Love Island's statement has been mostly positive, some (including ex-Islanders) are accusing the show of hypocrisy, particularly in the wake of Shannon Singh being 'dumped' from the island after just three episodes.
After Love Island shared their statement to Instagram, Niall Aslam, who briefly appeared on series four of Love Island, commented, "Don’t watch the show anymore after everything but assuming you’ve messed with someone mentally and posting about being nice? practice what you preach."
The ex-Islander has also been vocal about Love Island failing to adequately support him during his time on and after the show. He told the Mirror, "I wanted to get time out but [there was] more stress, more stress, more stress, and by the seventh day in I was segregating myself from the group.
"I had to get to the balcony for some time out, I was asking for music, like 'please play me some music to calm me down'. One guy played me a song on his phone once and they acted like they'd given me the world."
Niall has also rejected claims that current Islander Hugo Hammond is the first disabled contestant to appear on the show. In an Instagram post, he wrote about his experience as as an autistic person on the show, saying, "Autism is a registered disability and due to my needs not being met I ended up in psychiatric [hospital] and have to live with problems hear [sic] on out."
Fellow Islander Jordan Adefeyisan, also from series four, commented on Love Island's post saying, "I hope they have a better support system this year. And actually give each one a chance instead of picking favourites just for a better storyline. And also please don’t just dump dumped islanders at the airport not knowing how to deal with all the press.. it was actually terrifying… thank you."
It comes after Chloe Burrows' friends and family shared a statement on her Instagram Stories, saying,"the amount of trolling Chloe has been receiving is absolutely disgusting. This morning we woke up to yet another DM [...] encouraging Chloe to kill herself - there have been HUNDREDS. Have the deaths of Sophie, Mike and Caroline taught us nothing?"
Ahead of the series starting earlier this week, the show's producers outlined the duty of care protocols in place for this year's contestants. There will be comprehensive psychological support put in place for all Islanders, as well as training on the impacts of social media and financial management. There will also be a "proactive aftercare package" which includes counselling and guidance on taking on management.
Whatever your thoughts on Love Island's statement, we can all agree that *no-one* deserves to be abused online.
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