Love Island draws 1,500 complaints to Ofcom over alleged misogyny

Love Island viewers have made 1,509 complaints to the media regulator, Ofcom, over allegedly misogynistic behaviour by male contestants in direction of their feminine counterparts.

Viewers have been upset by a “snog, marry, pie” problem, wherein the present’s contributors revealed who they might kiss, marry or hit within the face with a cream pie. The dancer and mannequin Tasha Ghouri was left in tears over feedback that Dami Hope and Luca Bish made earlier than delivering a pie to her face.

The present has confronted continued scrutiny for the way it treats contributors and takes care of their psychological well being, with ITV dialling down a few of its extra excessive parts. Girls’s Help has already confirmed it's in talks with ITV after viewers expressed concern over “misogyny and controlling behaviour” on the present.

Ofcom has obtained different complaints associated to incidents allegedly involving misogynistic and bullying behaviour.

It stated in a press release: “We're assessing the complaints towards our broadcasting guidelines, however are but to determine whether or not or to not examine.”

Complaining to Ofcom about Love Island has change into an annual ritual for a lot of followers of the truth present, holding the regulator busy in the course of the summer time months.

It maintains a public record of all business tv and radio programmes that obtain greater than 50 complaints, which signifies a big degree of public dissatisfaction. Solely 14 programmes have hit that threshold within the final two months – and 11 of them have been episodes of Love Island.

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None of them have to this point resulted within the regulator opening formal investigations, echoing earlier years when giant numbers of individuals complained about Love Island however there was not often an precise breach of the broadcasting code.

Ofcom has largely stopped publishing working totals of public complaints, amid issues it created information cycles based mostly on outrage.

ITV beforehand stated: “We can't stress extremely sufficient how significantly we deal with the emotional wellbeing of all of our islanders. Welfare is at all times our best concern and now we have devoted welfare producers and psychological help available always, who monitor and usually converse to all the islanders in personal and off digicam.

“Forward of this sequence, contributors on the present have been supplied video coaching and steerage overlaying inclusive language round incapacity, sexuality, race and ethnicity, behaviours and microaggressions.”