niall aslam love island© Photo: ITV

Former Love Island star accuses show of hypocrisy after social media statement

The show posted a statement after Chloe received death threats

Online News Writer & Diversity and Inclusion Lead
June 30, 2021

This year's Love Island is sparking a lot of debate online, particularly given the twists on Wednesday night's edition concerning "bombshell" Chloe Burrows.

MORE: The real reason you never see Love Islanders cooking on the show

The star ended up receiving death threats prompting her family to admit they've "had enough" of the constant trolling.

WATCH: Meet the cast of Love Island 2021

The show also released its own statement, which read: "We want Love Island to be a positive experience for all of our cast and their friends and family members.

"Last night's episode created strong reactions but some viewers' posts were wholly unacceptable. We take these matters extremely seriously and will support cast members and their families in reporting such posts."

It concluded: "We would once again urge all of our viewers to think before posting, and remember that our Islanders are people with feelings."

Although many welcomed the statement, some said the show still needed to introduce a better support system.

And former contestant Niall Aslam, who competed on the show's fourth series, has suggested that the show is somewhat hypocritical with its statement.

The show released this statement

Responding to the post, he wrote: "Don't watch the show anymore after everything but assuming you've messed with someone mentally and posting about being nice? practice what you preach."

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Niall voluntarily walked from the show during his time, and in an interview with the Mirror, he said that the lack of support from the show left him falling into a stress-induced psychotic episode.

The 26-year-old has Asperger's syndrome and told the publication that the show didn't make adjustments to help him cope.

He explained: "I wanted to get time out but [there was] more stress, more stress, more stress, and by the seventh day in I was segregating myself from the group.

"I had to get to the balcony for some time out, I was asking for music, like 'please play me some music to calm me down'. One guy played me a song on his phone once and they acted like they'd given me the world."

© Photo: Instagram

Niall competed on the show's fourth series

Earlier this week, the star also took to TikTok to remind viewers that despite media reports to the contrary, Hugo Hammond is not the first contestant with a disability but simply the first with a physical disability.

Posting a video to his 75.4k followers, Niall took issue with the media attention surrounding the PE teacher being the supposed first contestant with a disability due to being born with a club foot, revealing: "But autism is a disability and I ended up hospitalised".

Tagging the post #autismawareness, Niall wrote in the caption: "I support Hammond, he is the first with a physical disability but can we stop covering me up lol".

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