Inside bombshell Love Island court battle between fan-favourite couple

A fan-favourite Love Island couple are now involved in a court battle after a ‘racial slur’.

Lochan Nowacki, 27, claimed he was forced to sue his ex, Whitney Adebayo, also 27, after she accused him of making a racial slur.

In a video viewed 3.5million times, Adebayo claimed that he called her skin ‘dirty’ and his mother joked – when the lights went out at home – ‘where’s Whit gone? Whit, smile.’

Nowacki is now suing for defamation and malicious falsehood at London’s High Court.

In his statement, Nowacki said: ‘A series of posts have been released making defamatory comments about my family, friends and I.

‘I never wanted things to reach this stage, and I did try to take this situation through to resolution. I felt I was left with no other choice but to take this course of action.

‘Taking this step was not about taking anything from Whitney, it’s about protection, it’s about clearing the serious reputational damage that has been caused to me and my family.’

He then stated he categorically denied saying anything she claimed.

‘For the avoidance of doubt, I categorically deny and refute the information that has been spread about my family and myself online. I have no desire to prolong this situation.

‘More than anything, I want to close this down and for us both to move forward separately.’

What happened between Whitney and Lochan?

The couple split in April 2025, with Adebayo sharing on her story: ‘I’m broken’.

In a social media video shared to TikTok in July, Abedayo then revealed that there was some bad blood after their breakup. She uploaded an image of herself in a bright pink bikini, with text that read: ‘You look happier’.

In a second image, she penned: ‘Thanks! I finally fell in love with my skin, he used to call dirty.’

In August, she confirmed in a TikTok video that this was about Nowacki.

Nowacki had a different version of events and shared his version of events in a lengthy live video.

‘She annoyingly put her nails in my face and said, “My hands are so clean, yours aren’t.” And I said, “No, they’re not”.’

He added: ‘I was just annoyed her hands were in my face – it was a very off-the-cuff remark. She looked at me in shock and said, “You’re calling me dirty,” and you know, I was taken aback by that.

‘I felt insulted that my girlfriend, who I loved, who knows me, who knows that I would never insinuate something like that, is calling me a racist and saying you’re calling my skin dirty.’

Adebayo had a different recollection of events.

In a video, she shared: ‘We were walking back from lunch, going back to his place and I was in the sun 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, and he was crying, he called all my family members saying it was a joke.’

She added: ‘I’m not even here saying Lochan is a racist, I’m here saying that he made racial slurs towards me.’

On September 1, Nowacki then released two 10-minute videos on TikTok showing screenshots, clips of Adebayo’s comments in podcasts, her own videos, and an alleged timeline of events.

At the end of the second video, he announced that he would be suing his ex to ‘clear mine and my family’s name’.

Which series were the couple in?

The couple starred in the 2023 series of the ITV2 dating show and were the bookies’ favourite to win the final.

They finished the series in second place by Sammy Root and Jess Harding.

The pair split up in April and began trading blows in August and September.

Metro has contacted representatives for Lochan Nowacki and Whitney Adebayo for comment.

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