Overview

The Olandria George Floyd Meme Controversy refers to drama over a meme edit that puts Love Island USA season seven contestant Olandria Carthen's face over that of George Floyd and contestant Huda Mustafa's face over that of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered Floyd. The meme surfaced online in late June or early July 2025, inspiring viral discourse and media coverage online. Olandria brought up the meme to Huda during the August 25th, 2025, season seven reunion episode, complaining that Huda didn't defend her over it, assuming it was one of Huda's fans who made the meme. The meme and Olandria's reaction to it inspired numerous reactions online in July and August 2025. Purportedly, the meme was created by X / Twitter user @girltheboycotts.

Background

The George Floyd Meme

In late June or early July 2025, X user @girltheboycotts purportedly posted an edit of the photo of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck before his death that replaces their faces with Love Island USA contestants Huda Mustafa and Olandria Carthen, respectively. The post read, "To all the flopandria stans."^[1]

The meme began inspiring discourse online in early July 2025, with many considering the meme inappropriate.

For example, on July 10th, 2025, X^[2] user @sameolegal posted, "Between Buzzfeed 'joking' about punching Chelley and Huda fans making memes, photoshopping Olandria onto George Floyd’s body, I’ve seen enough. Wrap this shit up." That day, a post was made to the /r/LoveIslandUSA^[3] subreddit discussing the meme and hate towards Chelley and Olandria in general that gained over 500 upvotes in a month.

On July 11th, Threads^[4] user @thejessiewoo made a post about the meme, writing, "Huda’s fans have edited the picture of George Floyd dying with his face replaced by Olandria’s and the cop’s face replaced by Huda’s with her knee on Olandria’s neck. They’ve also hacked Olandria’s tik tok to push out Huda content. I’m inclined to believe that Huda fans have seen how she purposefully terrorized the black folks on the show and have chosen to carry the torch for her," garnering over 4,900 likes in a month. The user also reposted the meme and images of the purported hack by Huda fans.

Developments

Olandria's Variety Interview / Olandria Unfollows Huda

On July 17th, 2025, Variety^[5] published an interview with Olandria Carthen. In the interview, the interviewer asks Olandria, "How have you personally dealt with the microaggressions and racism that has come your way post-show?" Olandria directly brings up the George Floyd meme, quoted as saying:

It’s difficult. I’m not going to lie. I heard it was even a meme of me being George Floyd and Huda being an officer. That’s a very touchy topic for the Black community. It’s disgusting, to say the least. I don’t understand how you take a love show and make such a comment like that. I was even getting death threats. My family was getting death threats. It shouldn’t be like that at all. I just don’t agree with it. It’s very tough and unfortunate as a Black woman … I was portrayed as a mean girl. I’m like, “How the hell did you paint me in this light?” I hate it, but I do appreciate many of my friends doing damage control and speaking up for my character.

That same day, Redditor u/Zalay24807 made a post to the /r/LoveIslandUSA^[6] subreddit titled, "Olandria and Chelley unfollowed Huda!!" sharing a screenshot showing that they do not follow Huda Mustafa, garnering over 7,500 upvotes in a month.

The unfollowing and Olandria's confirmed knowledge of the edit inspired reactions online. For example, on July 22nd, X^[7] user @lovespossessin made a post reading, "chelley knowing about the BuzzFeed post and olandria knowing about the George Floyd edit…," garnering over 26,000 likes in a month.

Love Island Season Seven Reunion

On August 25th, 2025, the reunion episode for Love Island season seven premiered. During the episode, Huda, Olandria and Chelley aired out their drama.

Olandria specifically brought up the George Floyd meme, suggesting it was Huda's fans who made it. She claims that she asked Huda to make a statement denouncing it, which she did not do. Huda defends herself, saying she didn't make the post and apologizes.

In the episode, Huda also purportedly said that she had also become the subject of racist remarks from her haters.^[8]

Online Reactions

Post-Reunion Reactions

The August 25th, 2025, reunion episode inspired further online discourse about the George Floyd meme, with many speaking in defense of Olandria Carthen.

For instance, on that day, TikToker^[9] @alrightchante posted a video criticizing Huda Mustafa for not issuing a response to the meme, garnering over 284,000 views in a day.

On August 26th, 2025, X^[10] user @hudaaontop made a post defending Huda, sharing an example of a similarly offensive and racist meme made about Huda, in which her face has been edited over that of a Palestinian woman forcibly being dragged away by Israeli forces,^[11] garnering over 1,200 likes in under a day.

The post quotes Olandria, reading, “you're face wasnt plastered on a george floyd edit, mine was," suggesting Huda was a victim of similar hate.

Search Interest

External References