“Love Island USA” Winner Trinity Tatum Asks Viewers to Stop Sending ‘Hate’ to Costar Zach Georgiou

Fellow season 8 castmembers reposted the message on Instagram July 14

NEED TO KNOW

• Love Island USA’s Trinity Tatum is asking fans to “stop” directing “hate” toward one of her fellow islanders
• “It’s very disheartening and we are people just like everyone else,” she wrote in a statement that was re-shared by several costars
• Zach Georgiou’s TikTok account was “banned” after fans reported it, according to his brother Charlie, a past star of the reality show

Love Island USA finalists are encouraging fans to treat one of their costars with more kindness.

On Tuesday, July 14, season 8 winner Trinity Tatum shared a statement on her Instagram Stories, calling on viewers to put an end to the “hate” and “ignorant comments” directed toward costar Zach Georgiou.

“Coming out the villa one [thing] I want to say I’m very blessed and appreciative of the love of support everyone has given me,” Trinity, 22, wrote. “With that being said I wanna say the hate & ignorant comments some of you guys are doing regarding Zach is absolutely not okay and needs to stop.”

Trinity added, “It’s very disheartening and we are people just like everyone else. We genuinely have love for each other inside and out of the villa and he’s one of the most amazing people I’ve met so please have some empathy.”

Trinity’s message was reposted by fellow finalists Aniya Harvey, Bryce Dettloff, Kayda Bosse and Melanie Moreno as of Tuesday morning. She also tagged Carl Schmidt, Sincere Rhea and Zach himself.

Trinity and boyfriend Bryce, 30, became good friends with Zach, 26, and Kayda, 22, during their time in the villa. Ultimately, Trinity and Bryce received the most votes from viewers and became the winners of season 8 on Sunday, July 12, securing a $100,000 prize.

It’s unclear what comments prompted Trinity’s statement, though fans online have pointed out that Zach’s TikTok account is not active as of Tuesday, July 14. His Instagram account remains active, though he has not posted since leaving the villa.

Zach’s older brother Charlie, who appeared on season 7 of Love Island USA, is also standing by Zach on social media. On Tuesday, Charlie claimed on Threads that TikTok “banned” his brother’s account “because everyone is reporting it.”

“Wtf is wrong with people? The truth about the false narratives portrayed about his time there will be spoken on soon,” he wrote.

Days earlier, Charlie shared a message to those who “don’t like me anymore for defending my brother.”

“Genuinely I don’t need support from people that bully my brother online for absolute minute reasons,” he wrote. “You’d think he’s been cancelled for something illegal the way you are talking about him. I have received death wishes, homophobic slurs and people even telling him to ‘take his ass back to the Byzantine empire,’ the region in which our heritage comes from.”

Charlie added, “These are probably the same people who mocked Parmida’s Persian name. Ethnic names don’t deserve to be mocked just because they are different. For all the people who have said ‘Zach withheld food from Kayda and has starved Kayda’ as farfetched and ridiculously dramatic that statement is, Zach did make Kayda breakfast that morning it just wasn’t shown.”

Charlie’s statement was possibly referring to a scene in season 8, in which Zach told Kayda she can “make breakfast as well” after she told him she didn’t want pancakes.

PEOPLE has reached out to TikTok regarding the status of Zach’s account, as well as a rep for Love Island USA for more information.

In June, Love Island USA released a statement encouraging viewers to “be kind” to its contestants. “The keyword in Love Island is… love. We love our fans. We love our islanders, we don’t love cyberbullying, harassment or hate.”

The Love Island USA season 8 reunion, co-hosted by Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen, will drop Monday, Aug. 31, at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.