The Love Island USA drama between Kenny Rodriguez and JaNa Craig refuses to die, even though their relationship ended over a year ago. After racist text messages surfaced that allegedly showed Kenny saying he doesn’t“like black women”and was“faking”his relationship with Craig, the couple split in July 2025. Kenny faced severe online harassment including death threats, forcing him to stay silent for months. Now, appearing on“The Journey”podcast, Kenny has finally given his full account of what went down—and it’s completely different from what fans assumed.
According to Kenny, those controversial texts were private messages he sent to a friend before Love Island even aired, where he was venting about alleged verbal abuse from JaNa in a generalized way he’s not proud of. He’s emphasizing his Dominican heritage, his dark-skinned family members, and his history of dating Black women to argue that the statement doesn’t define his character or his values. Kenny also claims JaNa discovered the texts by going through his phone without permission at a Los Angeles hotel, and that when he confronted her, the situation escalated to the point where he had to threaten calling 911.
JaNa Craig didn’t waste any time shutting down his narrative. She responded on Instagram Stories within hours, denying his claims and suggesting she has evidence that contradicts his entire story. She even threatened to release all their text messages publicly if Kenny continues what she’s calling“straight up lies.”So now we’re left with competing versions of the same events, and without seeing the actual context of those messages or having a neutral witness, it’s nearly impossible to know what really happened between them. Who do you think is telling the truth?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.