Love Island fans have already suggested that contestant Anton Danyluk should be removed from the show after it was revealed that he once dressed up in blackface for a party. The gym owner, who described himself as having a "wandering eye" in his Love Island introduction video, dressed up as Mr T for a costume party back in 2013. His mother responded to the controversy on his behalf via ITV, saying: "Given that Anton has no right to reply, I wanted to take the opportunity to assure everyone that my son, who himself is mixed heritage, is not a racist. As his mother I know he would be mortified to be labelled in such a way, and would whole heartedly apologise to anyone offended by this picture. There was absolutely no racist intent and almost six years down the line, I know it’s not the way Anton would ever behave today."
Anton's mother released a statement about the photos
Speaking about the costume, one of his friends told The Sun: "Anton likes to be the life and soul of the party and his idea of having fun is having all the attention on him. He was proud of the effort he put in to the costume. He just thought it would be a good laugh." Fans of the show were less than impressed by the revelation, and have called for him to be removed from the show. Former contestant Marcel Sommerville is among those to have condemned Anton's behaviour, telling The Sun: "We all know it's just not funny and simply not acceptable anymore. In my opinion it hasn't been acceptable for decades, so to hear that someone still thinks it's okay to make fun of people's skin colour is absolutely ridiculous. It's racist, and for him to stay on the show now with no repercussions is not okay."
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Anton will star in the 2019 series
Others took to Twitter to discuss Anton, with one writing: "#Loveisland fans have already figured out Anton is racist and the show hasn't even started yet, ITV are you ok? Who does your background checks? Who's getting fired?" Another person added: "Are you going to comment on why you haven't removed Anton after his black face photos emerged?! Vile."
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