Riverdale Showrunner Promises To Do Better By Black Characters After Being Called Out By Vanessa Morgan

Vanessa Morgan took to social media after the Black Lives Matter movement reached new heights due to the murder of George Floyd to call out other unjust things happening to the black community including in the industry. The Riverdale actress got her point across to a showrunner who is now promising to do better.

Vanessa’s character, Toni Topaz, is the only black lead in the show. In addition to not being paid an equal amount, she also took the time to address black characters not receiving proper storylines.

‘Tired of how black people are portrayed in Media, tired of us being portrayed as thugs, dangerous, or angry scary people. Tired of us also being used as sidekick non-dimensional characters to our white leads. Or only used in the ads for diversity but not actually in the show.’

Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa released a prompt apology to the show star with a promise to do better.

‘We hear Vanessa. 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.’

#hearvanessamorgan @BLMLA #riverdale pic.twitter.com/gnlI8Dh9yz

— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 5, 2020

He went on to say: ‘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 BLM, but we know where the work must happen for us. In the writers’ room.’

The Archie Comics Universe includes Riverdale, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Katy Keene.

In addition to taking her activism to another level, Vanessa has promised to wear black designers on the red carpet.

Lili Reinhart is one of her castmates that supported her when she spoke out about the issues in Hollywood.

It’s great to see that the showrunners actually want change.

source https://celebrityinsider.org/riverdale-showrunner-promises-to-do-by-black-characters-after-being-called-out-by-vanessa-morgan-403842/