Love Island USA alum Huda Mustafa was dropped from a running partnership with Huda Beauty (a brand inherently unrelated to her) after she failed to condemn a fan who used a racial slur during a recent live stream.
Huda Beauty announced the end of its partnership with Mustafa, saying she “displayed behavior that does not align with our values.”
“This action was taken not because of any creator or influencers content, this was taken due to the lack of seriousness around the issue and to people close to us who were offended by the actions during the live,” Huda Beauty wrote on Instagram. “Please remember this is about accountability not canceling people.”
What happened when Huda Mustafa encountered a fan who used a racial slur on Instagram Live?
Mustafa did a livestream with her boyfriend, Louis Russell, a reality star from Netflix’s Too Hot to Handle, Battle Camp and Perfect Match.
The livestream took a bizarre turn when a caller, seemingly a younger person, joined the conversation and used a racial slur directed at Mustafa’s Love Island USA Season 7 co-star Olandria Carthen, USA Today reported. Mustafa and Russell appeared to laugh after hearing it.
After the initial laugh, Russell said, “Woah, hey, hey,” and Mustafa asked, “Yo, what the f**k, what did they say?”
How did Olandria Carthen react to Huda Mustafa’s Instagram Live?
Carthen responded to Mustafa’s Instagram Live when she expressed her thoughts on her Instagram Story on Wednesday. The Love Island star said the language used in the livestream is unacceptable and she does not tolerate racism of any type, “not in anger, not as a joke, not ever.”
“Words like that carry generations of pain, and pretending otherwise only keeps the cycle going,” Carthen said on Instagram, per USA Today. “Defending it, laughing about it, or making excuses is even worse. I will not let this moment derail my purpose of uplifting my community. I’m standing firm in who I am and using this as an opportunity to call for real accountability and awareness.”
USA Today also reported that Carthen also said she would make donations to organizations “that educate and uplift the Black community, such as UNCF, NAACP and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, encouraging others to do the same.”
Huda Mustafa and Louis Russell later issued apologies
After receiving viral backlash, Mustafa issued one apology that was not received well by fans, resulting in her issuing a second apology, as E! News reported.
That apology reads in part, “I want to begin by saying I completely respect Olandria and it’s extremely disheartening that anyone, especially a presumed child, would find it excusable to use this type of language, and doing so only underlines the ignorance of the gravity that such a word carries. Olandria – it is now clear that this comment was targeted at you, and I apologize for my immediate reaction. My reaction in that moment came from being caught off guard, not from finding the word or situation funny. It was a nervous, uncomfortable reaction that I recognize was inappropriate. I want to be clear that I do not condone or tolerate anyone who uses such language, and I strongly encourage the individual responsible to reflect deeply on their words and the harm they’ve caused.”
Mustafa also said she would be donating to the NAACP and encouraged her fans to do so as well if they felt compelled.
Russell’s apology reads in part, “I’d like to extend my sincerest apology to all those affected by the caller who used language that completely goes against everything we stand for. As a Black man, I have a greater empathy through my own lived experiences battling racism and the idea that a flustered response to a very unnerving situation could be misinterpreted for me not taking the matter seriously is incredibly disheartening. This was an extremely unfortunate situation, one that in no way reflects my values, not Huda’s.”