Love Island: Aftersun hit with nearly 500 complaints over “slut shaming” comments

The show has received thousands of complaints.

Love Island: Aftersun has been hit with almost 500 complaints to Ofcom after viewers accused some of the guests of "slut shaming" during Sunday's episode. ITV has defended host Laura Whitmore after the show received 427 complaints following a conversation about Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and George Tasker’s late-night antics during Casa Amor. While we've seen Ekin-Su deny that anything happened between the two, George has spoken out about it and Laura again decided to bring it up again during last week's show. “Once again Ekin-Su swore that nothing happened with George and it seems Davide doesn’t believe her,” Laura said. Appearing as a guest, musician Tom Grennan replied: "It deffo [sic] happened though didn’t it?” Darren Harriott added: “She said her head never turned but I think her hand might have turned, and possibly wrist.” Viewers were not happy with the comments made, pointing out that Laura did nothing to stop the conversation and accused her of allowing "slut shaming" to be a part of the show. The person handling Ekin-Su’s Twitter account tweeted: “The fact that the slut shaming is being passed off as banter and good television is very concerning at this rate.” Another person added: "Let’s be real, the producers won't make them apologise to Ekin-Su when they have Laura Whitmore basically slut shaming her on Aftersun.” A third said: "WHY TF ARE PEOPLE STILL SLUT SHAMING EKIN,,, even on aftersun?? @LoveIsland @ITV you might wanna start giving a s**t about the wellbeing of your contestants, no? the misogyny and double standards are disgusting ew ew ew." ITV has since released a statement defending Laura, which read: "Laura is the presenter of the show, and part of that role is to pose questions to the panel and discuss events in the Villa. We do not condone trolling against either our host or our Islanders and any subsequent elevation of these comments." The UK's communications regulator Ofcom has received 3,617 complaints so far this week in relation to ITV 2's dating reality show Love Island. As Metro reports, 167 viewers complained about Friday night's episode, while 2,481 viewers contacted Ofcom in relation to Sunday's episode, which saw the fallout of Mad Movies. Monday night saw 413 complaints about the show. Earlier this week, the domestic violence charity Women's Aid said that they are now working in conjunction with the TV show after viewers brought their attention to a number of concerns. In a statement, they said: "At Women’s Aid we are being tagged into a stream of Twitter posts, with viewers of Love Island highlighting the misogyny and controlling behaviour being shown on screen. "This is clearly more than talking about any individual contestants, and a programme based around the formation of romantic relationships must have guidelines on what behaviour is acceptable and unacceptable in those relationships. "We are talking to ITV, and they have shared with us information on their inclusion training, but what appears to be missing is specific information on abusive relationships and an understanding of controlling behaviour in relationships."