A “Love Island USA” cast member has once again been booted from the villa. This time, it happened before the newest season even premiered.

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As soon as the reality dating show unveiled its Season 8 cast on Thursday, online fans began digging into the contestants’ backgrounds. Two videos soon began circulating on social media showing a contestant, Vasana Montgomery, appearing to say the N-word on camera — once while singing a song and another time while yelling at an arcade game.

By Friday, just days before the season was slated to air, Montgomery had been removed from the cast. Montgomery did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Peacock confirmed to NBC News that Montgomery will no longer be on the show. The streaming service said the videos that resurfaced were not publicly shared until after the cast announcement. (Peacock is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)

Each season of “Love Island USA” follows a group of singles over the course of six weeks as they race to couple up and form romantic connections, or risk getting dumped from the island. Throughout the show, the entry of new contestants (whom the show calls “bombshells”) creates tension as the producers continue to insert psychological games and plot twists.

The U.S. spinoff of the original British show, which is filmed in real time and airs six nights a week, was relatively niche before it exploded in popularity in 2024. Last year, Season 7 became Peacock’s most-watched original season of all time, with more than 18 billion minutes viewed.

But with the skyrocketing attention also came an influx of scrutiny from new fans, who quickly gained a reputation for displaying both extreme loyalty and extreme hostility to the people they see onscreen.

Some viewers have been quick to put contestants under the microscope for everything from their behavior to their physical appearance and political background, leading to intensified harassment online. While the online discourse evolves throughout the season, the Islanders are sequestered inside the villa with no access to social media until they exit the show — when they’re often greeted by both a large, new fan base and a flurry of hateful comments and assumptions.

The cyberbullying grew so severe last season that Peacock issued a public statement to fans before Season 8’s cast reveal.

“The Villa runs on good vibes, and so does this community. We love seeing your reactions, opinions, and debates, but everyone deserves to feel safe and respected,” the statement read. “This is a space for fun, not negativity — so keep it kind, keep it positive, and remember: this is LOVE Island!”

But just like last year’s in-episode PSA urging fans to be kinder, the message did little to temper online fervor.

On Instagram, the top comment (at nearly 63,000 likes) in response to Peacock’s call for kindness speculated that the cast must be “chopped,” or physically unattractive, for the show to even issue such a statement.

“LMAO not them giving us a talking to before the cast comes out,” read another comment that accrued nearly 60,000 likes.

Fans also noticed that the show didn’t tag any of its contestants’ Instagram handles in this year’s announcement and that comments are already restricted on the Islanders’ personal pages, leading to speculation that the show has put new social media safeguards in place to alleviate harassment.

Montgomery’s quick removal from the villa came after “Love Island USA” faced pressure last season to take action against two contestants for their past use of racial slurs.

At the beginning of Season 7, contestant Yulissa Escobar was abruptly removed from the series after video clips surfaced online that appeared to show her using the N-word while on a podcast. Later in the season, contestant Cierra Ortega — who boomeranged from fan favorite to one of the most harassed Islanders of the season — was similarly pulled from the villa after viewers resurfaced old social media posts that showed her use of an anti-Chinese slur.

As of Sunday, the show has not publicly addressed Montgomery’s removal or announced an alternate contestant for the start of Season 8.