Just days before Love Island returns to our screens and kicks off the summer, the show has courted controversy once again after pictures of a cast member in blackface have surfaced.
Anton Danyluk can be seen dressed as Mr T in the images during a night out and the cast member wears brown face paint, dungarees, a fake Mohican and costume jewellery in the unearthed images. The pictures were found on the Facebook page for the gym that Anton owns.
Former Love Island finalist, Marcel Sommerville condemned the images and encouraged ITV to kick Anton off the show.
Marcel said, “Blackface was a form of entertainment that comedians and actors used to do. But we all know it’s just not funny and simply not acceptable any more. In my opinion, it hasn’t been acceptable for decades, so to hear that someone still thinks it’s ok 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 ok”.
In defence of her son, Anton’s mother said in a statement, “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 wholeheartedly 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”.
ITV is yet to comment on the matter.
The new series of Love Island will commence on Monday and as we keep you updated on this story, watch the visuals to Marcel’s track “They Wanna Know” right here on GRM Daily.