Love Island star receives homophobic hate after explicit video from his ‘past’ leaks

Love Island USA‘s Kendall Washington has responded to homophobic hate sparked by a leaked NSFW video of him.

Although the American spin-off of the cripplingly heterosexual dating show Love Island reached the conclusion of its sixth season on 21 July, that wasn’t the only reason that finalist Kendall Washington made headlines.

He finished in fourth place alongside the other half of his couple, Nicole Jacky, but the internet quickly became a lot more familiar with Kendall than even 32 days in the Love Island USA could facilitate; namely, because several very NSFW (Not Safe For Work) videos of the star were leaked on X (formerly known as Twitter) on the same day.

He was met with a landslide of homophobic abuse after the clips surfaced, including assumptions about his sexuality, which he couldn’t respond to because he was still in the Love Island villa.

But having now received his phone back post-filming, Kendall has slammed the reaction.

“What a way to get my phone back y’all,” he wrote the following day (22 July) “I just want to address the content that came out from my past.”

“That was something I shared to someone in confidence and trust,” he continued. “It’s unfortunate that it’s no longer private, but it is what it is.”

Washington’s sister, Taylor, previously defended her brother when he was in the villa, and tagged Love Island in the process, saying that she hopes they have a robust safeguarding process in place.

“I hope y’all have serious mental-health resources in place for him so he doesn’t come back from the high of this experience to seeing he’s been unfairly exposed on top of general reality TV backlash,” she wrote.

“People’s [private] lives should remain private. The weight of this [is] too much for anyone and my heart aches for him immensely.”

This series of Love Island USA also featured The Traitors heartthrob Aaron Evans, who faced scrutiny over his sexuality while in the villa, especially because of his bromance with fellow contestant Rob Rausch.

The show – both in the US and the UK – does not have a fantastic history with the LGBTQ+ community, failing to cast any queer people, although several contestants have since come out.

Amber Gill, who won season five in 2019, has since come out as a lesbian, and Eve Gale is now dating TOWIE’s Demi Sims. Two years ago, Megan Barton-Hanson a called for a queer season of the show.

Love Island USA is streaming on Peacock.