Love Island got the most Ofcom complaints in four years, many for this very serious reason

This season of Love Island was as controversial as ever. Ofcom received 14,000 complaints – more than triple the amount from last year. The complaints were for everything from bringing Megan and Blu back after they had been voted off to accusations of misogyny from the male Islanders.

Women’s Aid put out a statement on Instagram about the way men on Love Island were treating the women of the show.

“Reality TV isn’t just entertainment, it shapes how people think about relationships, gender roles and what behaviour is acceptable,” they said.

But one major complaint has been swept under the rug. Loads of viewers complained about racism in the portrayal of Pakistani-English Islander Shakira Khan. While the Ofcom report doesn’t go into detail about the exact reason for the racism allegations, people across social media believe Shakira’s “villain edit” towards the end of the season played into racist stereotypes.

@loveisland

“They’re all just so fake!” Shakira’s shares her honest thoughts about her fellow Islanders…. 😶‍🌫️ #LoveIsland

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Shakira was also alleged to have experienced bullying from the other Islanders. The divide between the girls in the villa was clear, but for some viewers it was more than just a normal split. During one confession filmed on the episode that featured the Most Likely challenge, Shakira said she felt like she was being “hounded” by the other Islanders. She described the experience as “draining”. This episode aired the same week that over 9,000 of the complaints were made.

“If she was white things would be very different,” said one comment with over 1k likes.

This was also the same week Shakira was rumoured to have asked to leave the villa.

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Another Islander people think experienced racism is Alima Gagigo. She had limited airtime during the season, even though she was consistently voted to stay. Multiple Islanders have said she was incredibly funny, something viewers are saying was hidden from the show.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Meg and Helena agree that Alima got an unfair edit.

“She was so funny to watch, she’d be doing ten things at once, but nothing would get done,” said Helena.

Alima had a rough time finding love in the villa. This included a painful snub from Blu that sparked outrage online. When asked how he felt after Alima chose him, Blu said, “Every girl looks beautiful,” to which Maya Jama responded, “Yes, but Alima chose you”.

She’s recently spoken out about her experience in an interview with Grazia, saying: “I genuinely thought as a Black woman, I would need to work 10 times harder, on the show and after. That was something that really impacted my decision [going on to the show], whether I’d be able to deal with that or not.”

In response to the allegations, ITV told the BBC: “We would take any suggestion that any editorial decisions are made based on race very seriously indeed and would refute this in the strongest possible terms.”

Love Island has been getting accusations of racism for years now. ITV producers are constantly accused of cutting airtime for women of colour, and multiple Islanders have alleged that their race affected their experience in the villa.

“We didn’t find anyone who liked us. It was always someone coming in and saying, ‘my type is blonde and petite,” season 5 contestant Yewande Biala said during a BBC 1Xtra radio interview.

“We’d just look at each other and say they’re obviously not here for us.”

Despite the backlash, Ofcom has officially dismissed all Love Island complaints for this year.

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Featured image credit: ITV