On-screen, Alina Kasha's romance with Caleb Greenwood has had some viewers divided, for both fair and unfair reasons.
Online, however, the 90 Day Fiance fandom is much more concerned with Alina's past than with her love life.
Recently, Alina's history of repulsive racist social media activity -- not edgy "jokes," but cruel posts involving costumes and slurs -- was revealed.
A new report says that Alina has been fired, and that production aims to trim down her remaining air time on the rest of Season 5.
From Black people to Muslims to Black people again, Alina Kasha's social media history shows some alarming patterns.
It's true that many people have said or even believed things that they now fiercely regret.
Most did not include racial slurs or get into costumes and makeup in order to make that bigotry known.
Even if these posts were to be passed off as edgy "jokes," the use of slurs would still be inexcusable.
Beyond that, it's hard to characterize something as a joke when you don't see the punchline.
Where does this endless post about a "party" with the N-word repeating every few words get funny, exactly?
As blogger Mommy Says Bad Words reported as the scandal first broke, Alina initially denied making the posts.
It's hard to imagine someone forgetting multiple posts like that from just 6-7 years earlier, especially when it involved makeup and wardrobe.
Regardless, Alina later changed her tune and issued an apology, explaining that she had not understood the nuances of the racial slur that she employed.
All of this was particularly shocking coming from someone who is herself marginalized.
While slurs vary among languages (and sometimes cultures), Alina is disabled. She's a little person.
For that matter, Russian or not, she certainly has people in her life whom she would surely not want to see mocked or called vicious slurs in this way.
In general, 90 Day Fiance fans are accustomed to seeing stars get away with awful things.
Yes, now-convicted Geoffrey Paschel was booted without explanation and "Baby Girl" Lisa Hamme was sacked, the latter during 2020's historic civil rights protests.
But emotional abuse by Big Ed Brown (and sexual misconduct allegations) and ample verbal abuse by Angela Deem hasn't scratched their reality TV careers.
It doesn't appear that Alina Kasha will be getting off so easily, however.
The Ashley reports that Alina Kasha, whose real name is Alina Kozhevnikova, is being fired.
The decision was allegedly made over the weekend as this scandal only grew worse.
The report also says that editors are working to see how much of Alina and Caleb's storyline can be cut from the show.
Obviously, what has aired has aired, and Alina and Caleb have been one of the most talked about couples on Season 5.
However, it sounds like they could take a back seat for future episodes of 90 Day Fiance: Before The 90 Days.
It is unclear whether Alina or Caleb have been informed of this reported change in their status.
“The producers are horrified that this stuff keeps coming out, and keeps getting worse and worse,” the insider told The Ashley.
“Despite what some people think, they don’t do an extensive dive into the cast member’s backgrounds," the source explained, "so that’s how this went undiscovered during filming.”
As we here at THG have noted since this scandal broke, old social media posts can be complicated.
After all, people can change and grow considerably over the years, especially when exposed to new information or explanations.
However, there are lines that should never be crossed, and even changed behavior does not automatically earn forgiveness from those wronged by past misdeeds.
There are those who feel that portions of the fandom are using this scandal in bad faith, because they dislike Alina.
Certainly, some on social media have disliked her for misogynistic or ableist reasons, such as her desire for sex or her pairing with a man of average height.
However ... we need to recognize that bad faith or not, the scandal is legitimate and the anger evoked by that scandal is justified.
Our disappointment in Alina's history cannot be understated.
It is difficult to understand why Alina ever felt that these particular posts, mocking and degrading vulnerable minorities, were acceptable.
As much as we might be curious to hear her explain this on a Tell All or elsewhere, no explanation could make this okay.