BuzzFeed apologizes for offensive post about ‘Love Island USA’s’ Chelley Bissainthe

The post included an apology to the “Love Island USA” star, along with a listicle of how workplaces should correct their offensive behavior.

The digital media outlet BuzzFeed has apologized for a post it made about “Love Island USA” contestant Michelle “Chelley” Bissainthe.

BuzzFeed and its food vertical “Tasty,” made a since-deleted Instagram post in early July listing the different “Love Island USA” season seven contestants and what they would make them for breakfast. The idea comes from an element of the show, that films the islanders almost every day and shows them eating breakfast in the morning. As a small act of chivalry, the male contestants usually make food for the female contestants.

The post was supposed to make light-hearted suggestions for each islander, but for Bissainthe’s breakfast, Tasty said it would make her “a bowl of fruit, Goldfish, and a knuckle sandwich.” The post received backlash immediately, with many fans questioning why the brand would imply that one of the main Black female contestants on the show deserved to be punched in the face. The contestants from the show tend to face public opinion, scrutiny, and hate for the duration of the season and long after, and brands try to join in on the spectacle. But for many, Tasty’s random attack on Bissainthe took it too far.

Bissainthe’s social media team responded to the post with a statement on her Instagram story, calling it “disturbing, disgusting, and unacceptable.”

“It is the harsh reality that implicit biases can be rooted in antiblackness, misogyny, prejudice, violence, etc,” the statement said. “We will not accept a narrative in which Chelley deserves violence.”

BuzzFeed had already taken down the post following the recation, but yesterday, the outlet issued an apology, written by two Black staffers. The post was not only for Bissainthe. In true BuzzFeed listicle form, the post outlined 11 steps on how a company addresses its offensive behavior. It is embellished with GIFs and has anonymous quotes from employees.

“This mistake deeply hurt members of the Black community, both internally and in our audience,” the post said. “But instead of ignoring the issue or sweeping it under the rug, we want to use it as a case study of what any workplace or community must face when it falls short and show what it looks like to try, sincerely, to do better.”

The first step of the instructions was to “take time to listen to your audience and employees about how it impacted them.” Some employees were quoted anonymously in the post. One said, “As a Black woman at the company, I was mostly disappointed and confused. It made me think about all the experiences that I have to go through on the daily basis. Darker skin is automatically seen as aggressive. No matter what you do, what you say or how you say it.”

Another said, “My trust in my company has faltered, and my safe haven now has a crack.”

The post’s 11 points discuss taking responsibility and making “genuine apologies,” working on “covering Black people in a positive light,” and creating “inclusive and safe spaces.” It also acknowledged that it would take more than 11 steps to “fight against existential discrimination.”

“Through these steps and our work we are aiming every day to promote Black joy, to protect Black women, and to help steer a much larger and whiter organization in a direction that’s inclusive for us and all others,” the post said.