The sun is blazing, the swimsuits are tiny, and America’s hottest dumb show is back.
Peacock just kicked off the seventh season of Love Island USA, the reality television show that sees a group of hot singles shipped off to a tropical villa in Fiji, following them throughout the summer as they flirt, fight, and fumble their way to love.
But this season, there’s a twist no one saw coming and no one asked for: MAGA has officially entered the villa. And let’s just say that, based on the reaction on social media, viewers are not fans.
Meet the show’s public enemy numbers one and two: Yulissa Escobar and Austin Shephard.
According to her introduction video, Escobar is a 27-year-old woman who works in hospitality and luxury real estate in Miami, Florida, and describes herself as a “bundle of joy.” However, viewers think alleged “Trumpie racist” would be a more accurate description of her.
Days before the show premiered, the internet did what it does best—intense sleuthing, uncovering a handful of older social media posts from the islander that raised an eyebrow.
First, people found a now-deleted TikTok of Escobar talking about losing around 600 followers because she is a Trump supporter. Then, they discovered two instances on podcasts where Escobar drops the n-word. All the posts have been uploaded to X by a viewer.
After the backlash started to pick up steam before the show’s premiere, Escobar’s friend apparently came to her defense, and unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a very good one.
“Lol… y’all act like you never said the N word before, stop being so f--king sensitive,” her friend commented.
Now, for Love Island’s enemy number two: Mr. Shepard.
In his introduction video, Shepard describes himself as a 26-year-old man from Michigan and a pool technician.
Like what happened to Yulissa, shortly after Peacock announced Shepard’s casting, the internet discovered his alleged TikTok account (@scottdisickstan12), where he apparently liked several Pro-Donald Trump posts and anti-Kamala Harris videos. A collage of these likes is currently on X.
Shepard’s alleged TikTok account has now been deleted.
If viewers were already not fans of Escobar and Shepard before the season started, after seeing what went down in Episode 1, they really really don’t like them now.
In the first coupling, Escobar stole the man of the show’s current favorite, Chelley, a Black bi-sexual woman.
This led Chelley to pair up with Shepard, the alleged Trumpie.
Now, fans are desperate to vote Yulissa and Austin off, not only because they don’t like their politics, but their favorite islander is currently in a couple with a man she may not know is MAGA.
Will the promised elimination of Escobar and Shepard come to fruition? Or will MAGA continue to be a feature on the seventh season of Love Island USA?
Currently, it’s too soon to tell, but if the show’s fans have anything to say about it: Yes to elimination and no to MAGA.
