Love Island USA’s Yulissa Escobar Tells ‘Real Story’ of How She Was Kicked off the Show Over Racial Slurs

Yulissa Escobar is revealing how her sudden and unexplained Love Island USA exit really happened.

The 27-year-old was among the first group of islanders who entered the Fiji villa in the season 7 premiere, but she was removed quietly from the show in the second episode without much of an explanation from Peacock.

Her exit was the result of resurfaced videos of her using racial slurs, including the N-word, on two separate podcast appearances.

Since her exit, Yulissa has not expanded on the logistics of how she left the villa — or what she was told — until now.

It started off as a “regular” day in the villa before she was called away by a producer.

In a TikTok video, Yulissa admitted that she “can’t share certain things, but I will share the majority of what happened” to set the record straight about her exit.

“So, regular a– day. I did not wake up in the middle of the night, they didn’t get me in the f—— morning. They didn’t drag my a– out of bed,” she said.

The day started with her partner, Ace Greene, made her breakfast in the morning and she had multiple conversations with islanders, including Taylor Williams, while the whole villa was awaiting Cierra and Charlie’s bombshell arrival.

She said she was “just starting to have fun” when she was pulled out.

Yulissa was called to the front and assumed it was for a confessional, but she was met by a producer instead, who asked her to take off her mic. “I kinda figured something serious was happening,” she recalled. “I honestly got scared, I thought something was happening with a family member or something. I didn’t know what was going on. They didn’t really tell me anything, they just said, you know, a video resurfaced [on the] internet and it’s not looking too good.”

They didn’t specify what the video in question was, though, so she was confused. “Honestly, I wasn’t even crying or anything, I just wanted to know what was going on.”

After two days in a Fiji hotel, she got her phone back and learned what the internet had seen.

She said she was “losing my f—– mind because I didn’t know what was going on” while in the hotel without access to her phone, because at that point, she still didn’t know what video the producers were referring to.

When she finally got her phone, she said it “was a lot to take in.”

“I was like, f—, no. I can’t believe people think I’m racist. I mean, I get it, I said a word that I should have not said, but man, I wish I would’ve never said that,” she said. “It is what it is. I can’t go back in time. I am sorry that I said that word.”

In the caption of the TikTok, she wrote, “Plot twist: I wasn’t dragged out in the dark. I walked out in broad daylight head high, lashes on.”

Yulissa issued a public apology for her use of the racial slur in the days following her exit.

In a lengthy Instagram post on June 6, Yulissa said she wanted to “address it directly” and “apologize for using a word I had no right in using.”

“In those clips, I used a word I never should’ve used, a racial slur. I used it ignorantly, not fully understanding the weight, history, or pain behind it,” she wrote. “I wasn’t trying to be offensive or harmful, but I recognize now that intention doesn’t excuse impact. And the impact of that word is real. It’s tied to generations of trauma, and it is not mine to use.”

Escobar explained that when she did the podcast, she “was speaking casually in conversation, not thinking deeply or critically about what I was saying.”

“But that doesn’t take away from how wrong it was. The truth is, I didn’t know better then, but I do now. I’ve taken the time to reflect, to learn, and to grow from that moment.”

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New episodes of Love Island USA drop every day except Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.