The season’s premiere of Love Island SA has opened up a lot of wounds for Black South African’s who have taken to Twitter since its premiere to slam the show for its lack of diversity and technical glitches.The show which is hosted by Leandie du Randt, has overbearing white contestants and is now called Love Island Orania has lost their sponsor, Lotto Star.
— M-Net (@MNet) March 2, 2021
Lotto Star has withdrawn its sponsorship from the show and released a statement on Twitter yesterday which read:
“LottoStar has taken the decision to respectfully withdraw its sponsorship of Love Island SA. We wish the show and its contestants every success – Director, LottoStar. #LoveIslandSA”
Although the brand didn’t give reasons for withdrawing, their move was welcomed by Black Twitter who applauded them for supporting their views:The huge backlash and puling of sponsors has resulted in MNet issuing of an apology in a statement on social media to Mzansi and has assured viewers that it’s correcting their mistakes (lack of diversity and technical glitches).
The broadcaster stated yesterday on social media:
“You called us out on the lack of diversity and production quality in our first episode of Love Island SA. We’re sorry- we didn’t meet our usual standard on both counts. We are working tirelessly to fix things, and to deliver the Magic you deserve.”Although tweeps welcomed Lotto Star’s withdrawal from the show, some tweeps slammed MNet’s apology by reminding them that there’s been lack of diversity in most of their shows throughout the years.
Here are some replies to Mnet’s apology: