Love Island star Tasha Ghouri’s father has discussed the “horrific” comments aimed towards his daughter since she appeared on the ITV2 series.
Tarek, 55, branded the trolling online “nasty” and “unnecessary”, and added that some of the commentary has made him “sick to his stomach”.
Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “It’s just shocking. It’s been some horrific, ‘deaf and dumb cow. B****. S***. She’s screwed every guy in the villa,’ type thing. It’s nasty and unnecessary.
“It makes me stick to the stomach, actually. I don’t know what fuels people to even think like that. They don’t even know them. It’s quite bizarre.”
Although the families of the Islanders received social media training from ITV2 before the show, Tarek admitted the onslaught of negative comments had been overwhelming.
He said: “We’ve got no place for hate comments, this show’s about love.”
In light of the online abuse, friends and family of the Islanders came together on Sunday to share a joint statement, declaring “hate has no place here”.
The lengthy statement, which was shared to the Instagram accounts of Tasha, Ekin-Su CuÌlcuÌlogÌlu, Andrew Le Page, Dami Hope, Indiyah Polack and Gemma Owen, was captioned, “Be kind”.
It began: “Joint statement from admins of current contestants of Love Island. Love Island is an interactive TV show where opinions, discussions and debate are welcome in equal measure to displays of support, love and kindness.’
“Although we have never met, we stand together today united against the hate messages and insults that some viewers seem to think is acceptable to throw at our friends, sons, daughters and family members.
“Your hate has no place on our pages or in society in general. This post is being shared across contestants social media pages at the same time and love island fan related pages as a sign of unity and denouncement of hate”.
Tarek’s latest comments come days after he took aim at vile trolls who have been making cruel ableist comments about the islander.
The 23-year-old is the ITV2 show’s first-ever deaf contestant and wears a cochlear implant, a small electronic device that stimulates the nerve used for hearing, to help her hear.
Taking to Instagram last week, Tasha’s dad Tarek spoke out about the nasty commentary as he shared a photo of his daughter as a young girl dressed as a fairy.
He wrote: “Despite the negativity she was successful before she went in and she will be successful when she comes out.
“We talked about the possible negativity and if you think you are prepared for it you are not. Negativity is not what we do in this family so it is a bit of a shock but more so is the ablest comments like last night when someone described her as a ‘deaf w***e’.
“Tash wanted to do it to represent and show deaf kids, teens and adults that they have nothing to fear by embracing their deafness or hearing aids. It’s why hers is bright white!”
Tarek also detailed the daily struggles Tasha faces. He added: “It’s mentally draining for her trying to compute what’s been said, lip reading people whose lips aren’t facing her or whose mouths are covered with bottles [and] who said what when many are talking.
“Staying involved in conversation when you can only hear robotic sounds in only one of your ears is mentally draining. This leads to tiredness and sometimes tears.
“It’s a pressured environment for all but she has an extra pressure no one seems to recognise apart from anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing.
“‘Thank you to everyone who’s posted on this page with positive messages. Truly from the bottom of Tashas and our hearts. #bekind #loveisland #loveislandmemes #loveislandspoilers”.
