Vasana Montgomery is issuing an apology.
The 25-year-old spoke out for the first time after she was removed from the Love Island USA season eight cast over her alleged use of the N-word in past videos.
“I want to address a couple videos from my teen years that have recently surfaced,” Montgomery wrote on her Instagram Story June 3. “In those videos, I used a racial slur. There is no excuse for it, and I am deeply sorry.”
The salon owner from Beaverton, Ore.—who was cut from the dating show ahead of the June 2 premiere—said that she was both “embarrassed and disappointed” by her words.
“I take full responsibility for what I said and understand why it has hurt and upset people,” she continued. “Since then, I have grown a lot as a person and taken the time to educate myself, listen, learn, and better understand the impact that language can have.”
