After leaving the villa, Love Island USA’s Austin Shepard answered some burning questions — and weighed in on the web debate about Ace Greene’s peak.
Austin was requested in his TikTok feedback on Saturday, July 5, whether or not he may “verify or deny” Ace’s peak, to which he replied, “5’6 on an excellent day.” Austin subsequently favored a number of messages and memes poking enjoyable at Ace being shorter than he mentioned he was on the present.
Ace’s peak grew to become a subject of dialog after the Stand On Enterprise problem when he bought into an argument with Austin.
“Certainly one of us — out of the 2 — is 6’5 and certainly one of us is 5’10 and has the balls to say some s*** round right here as a result of I’ve some coronary heart,” Ace fired again at Austin through the Tuesday, July 1, episode. “You don’t.”
Viewers questioned whether or not Ace was probably a shorter peak based mostly on how he in comparison with the opposite Islanders. He has but to elaborate since he’s nonetheless within the villa with no entry to a cellphone or data of what the general public has been saying about his time on the present.
Austin, in the meantime, has since left Fiji and been introduced on top of things. After getting entry again to his social media, Austin answered an Instagram Q&A the place a fan requested whether or not he was a “racist bigot.”
“I’m going to provide this consideration just one time as a result of that is, like, loopy,” Austin mentioned in his response video on Saturday. “Are you f***ing dumb? Like, actually, are you dumb? Do you not assume?”
Austin used certainly one of his tattoos as proof, including, “I’ve a Black girl tatted on my aspect. Use your head.”
After his clarification wasn’t well-received, Austin clarified with a extra formal assertion.
“I need to take a second to deal with my current repost that has brought on offense to a few of you,” he wrote through his Instagram Tales. “As you all know, I’ve a really dry humorousness, and I genuinely didn’t assume earlier than sharing that content material. It was by no means my intention to harm or upset anybody. I worth and respect all people and their views.”
Austin acknowledged a since-deleted repost on his social media account.
“I acknowledge that my alternative of content material didn’t resonate properly with everybody, and for that, I sincerely apologize,” he added. “I’m dedicated to studying from this expertise and to being extra conscious sooner or later. Thanks to your understanding and for holding me accountable. Love you all [and] thanks a lot for an unimaginable expertise.”
Earlier this season, Yulissa Escobar was one other Islander who apologized after clips of her utilizing racial slurs on a podcast circulated on-line. She was faraway from the villa two episodes into the season after which Cierra Ortega was additionally pulled as soon as a resurfaced put up of her utilizing a slur went viral.
New episodes of Love Island USA shall be launched six days per week — apart from Wednesdays — on Peacock.