LOVE Island star Whitney Adebayo has broken her silence after The Sun revealed her ex-boyfriend Lochan Nowacki is suing her over claims he used a ‘racial slur’.
Former villa finalist Lochan, 27, is taking Whitney to court after she publicly accused him of calling her skin “dirty”.
In a video watched over 3.5 million times , she also claimed his mum joked “where’s Whit gone?” when the lights went out – before adding: “Whit, smile.”
Lochan has now instructed the same lawyers who represented David Williams in his legal dispute with Britain’s Got Talent .
The case – dubbed ‘ Love Island ‘s Wagatha Christie’ – is expected to get underway in the coming weeks.
A source said: “There have been repeated attempts to step back from the abyss.
“Whitney was given the opportunity to apologise publicly for her remarks, but she doubled down instead.
“Lochan wants the world to know he is taking action against her.
“Half the people out there still think he’s a racist because of what she’s said about him.
“It’s just not right and it has to be corrected. He would rather avoid court, but there doesn’t appear to be any alternative.”
Last night, Whitney took to TikTok shortly after the story was published and shared a short clip in which she insisted she will “win the case”.
Miming along to an audio clip, sassy Whitney said: “Even if you phone the police I will win this case.”
It came as she enjoyed wine and “gossip” on her sofa with her sister, which one fan joked was a “legal strategy meeting”.
She was inundated with supportive comments.
The insider told us that Lochan’s ‘particulars of claim’ – a formal legal outline of the case – have now been drafted.
They will set out in detail the damage done to Lochan’s reputation in the wake of her claims.
His mum, Kulminder, will also be named in the action.
Lochan is suing Whitney in the High Court for defamation and malicious falsehood and is seeking “substantial damages”.
A spokeswoman for Whitney, also 27, said: “Whitney has instructed her own legal team and is very confident in her position.
“If any claim is issued by Mr Nowacki, it will be vigorously defended.”
The couple starred in the 2023 series of the ITV2 dating show and were the bookies’ favourite to win the final.
But they were beaten into second place by Sammy Root and Jess Harding .
The pair remained together until April after a “turbulent” relationship and have traded blows ever since.
Their feud reached boiling point earlier this month after Whitney, who is of Nigerian descent, posted an explosive TikTok video watched by millions.
In it she said: “Lochan, are we doing this? Are we really going to go for the nice boy, puppy dog eye, look? Really?
“Back to the situation of how it happened.
“We were walking back from lunch, going back to his place, and I was like, ‘babe, look how my skin glistens in the sun’.
“And he looked at me and he was like, ‘ugh, it’s dirty’.
“And then only when I lashed out, he was like, it was a joke, it was a joke. He was crying.
‘IT WAS A RUNNING JOKE’
“He called all my family members, saying it was a joke, it was a joke.
“And because Lochan gives off this golden retriever energy no one would ever believe that he would ever say it maliciously.
“But you guys know I have dark humor, so I know when something’s a joke and when something’s being said seriously.”
She then turned to Lochan’s mum and claimed she too had made a racial slur.
Whitney, who has 705,000 followers on Instagram , added: “When I used to come to your house, what did your mum used to say to me?
“Guys, the lights would go off, and she would say, ‘oh, where’s Whit gone? Whit, smile’.
“And that was an on-running joke in that household.
“Like, Whit, smile, Whit, smile.
“So I just hate the fact that he’s coming on the internet acting so, like, innocent.
“I’m not even here saying that Lochan is a racist. I’m here saying that he made racial slurs towards me.”
Entrepreneur Whitney also claimed his friends used the n-word and accused him of “condoning it” by remaining pals with them.
She went on: “I was like, why are you hanging around with people who obviously have that word in their vocabulary and I’m obviously a black woman.
“We broke up when that racial slur happened.”
She claimed their relationship outside the villa was “up and down” and accused him of being “a culture vulture”.
The reality star said: “He clocks that his audience obviously is predominantly black so he’s constantly trying to tap into the culture.
“The same culture he stripped me of. He told me I was too ghetto, I was too loud.”
A source said her comments about his mum were the “final straw”.
They added: “One of the reasons for the legal action is because she dragged his mum into it.
“She accused his mum of racism and the family think that is a step too far.
“She’s defamed her to millions of people as a racist.
“Lots of attempts have been made behind the scenes to resolve this. but she refuses
“That’s the problem with social media these days. No one wants to be reasonable anymore because it affects their online platform.
“As a result, particulars of claim are being drafted and the claim is being lodged at the High Court.”
In his own video, Lochan said he was “devastated” by her claims and insisted his original comment was not racist.
He said: “We were on a walk close to my flat. She had got her nails done and she annoyingly put them in my face and was like, ‘oh, my hands are so clean, yours aren’t’.
“I was like, ‘no, they’re not’. And she looked at me in shock and was like, ‘you’re calling me dirty’.
“She was saying ‘the world is going to see you for the racist that you are’.
“I just want to first of all say, I’ve never called anyone’s skin dirty and I would never.
“That never happened.
“That to me is the most upsetting comment.
“I’ve got no other choice now but to stand up and defend myself.
“I really wanted Whit and I just to move on happily with our lives and just be happy…but it’s reached a point where I do need to stand up for myself and talk about this whole incident.
“It’s hard to even say these words because it just goes against everything that I’ve been raised coming from like a multicultural background.
“My mum being Indian, my dad is Scottish, Polish, English.
“It feels like this was done to cause harm. And, you know, it is.”
The couple appeared in the show’s tenth series which averaged around 2.7million viewers per episode.
Whitney was announced as a “bombshell” cast member and entered the villa on the third day.
She coupled up with Lochan before reaching the final.
She has since starred in the second series of Netflix hit, Inside.
A spokesman for Brandsmiths, who are representing Lochan, declined to comment.
They previously represented Walliams when he sued the makers of BGT.
He won a £1million out-of-court settlement and a public apology from Fremantle Media after off-air conversations were leaked.
