“Rivedale” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has issued an apology to actress Vanessa Morgan with a promise to do better for characters of color on the series…
“Riverdale” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa didn’t wait long to respond to criticisms from actress Vanessa Morgan regarding how her character has been used on the show where she’s the only black series regular.
Morgan posted a lengthy message targeted as the film and television industry as a whole but taking particular aim at her own series where she stars as Toni Topaz on the popular CW show. Morgan said she was tired of black characters being portrayed as “thugs, dangerous or angry, scary people” not to mention being treated as “sidekicks” to white leads.
Morgan added that she’s currently the lowest paid series regular on “Riverdale” as well.
A few days after her post went viral, Aguirre-Sacasa took to Twitter to issue his own response and apology to Morgan while issuing a new edict moving forward on the CW series once production begins again later this year.
“We hear Vanessa,” Aguirre-Sacasa wrote. “We love Vanessa. She’s right. We’re sorry and we make the same promise to you that we did to her. We will do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color.
“Change is happening and will continue to happen. Riverdale will get bigger, not smaller. Riverdale will be part of the movement, not outside it. All of the Riverdale writers made a donation to [Black Lives Matter Los Angeles] but we know where the work must happen for us. In the writer’s room.”
#hearvanessamorgan @BLMLA #riverdale ❤️ pic.twitter.com/gnlI8Dh9yz
— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 5, 2020
“Riverdale” has become one of the CW’s most popular series but Morgan is the only black actor as a series regular on the show. Her character has largely taken a backseat in major storylines since she first debuted in season 2 so it’s understandable why Morgan raised those issues in her initial post.
Like most TV series, “Riverdale” is currently shut down but production on the series is expected to begin again later this year in Vancouver with season 5 debuting on the CW in early 2021.
