What’s up?
It’s Emile Ennis Jr. here with Clevver News and Lili Reinhart is facing criticism for
defending the Riverdale creator while her fellow cast members have been speaking about
the show’s racial issues.
In case you missed it, over the past couple weeks, Riverdale cast members like Vanessa
Morgan have called out the writers of Riverdale in a series of tweets amid the Black Lives
Matter movement.
Vanessa said quote, “I’m not being quiet anymore.
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 in the ads for diversity but not actually in the show.
It starts with the media.
I’m not being quiet anymore.”
And she also revealed that while she’s the only black series regular, she’s also the
least paid.
The show’s creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa issued a public apology to Vanessa.
He said quote, “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.
Change is happening and will continue to happen.
Riverdale will get bigger, not smaller.
Riverdale will be part of the movement, not outside it.”
But Vanessa wasn’t the only Riverdale cast member to speak out.
During a recent Instagram Live with Lili Reinhart, actress Asha Bromfield, who played Melody,
the Pussycats drummer, discussed Black representation on the show.
I feel that the media plays such a big role in this and Hollywood has such a huge responsibility
in this narrative of humanizing Black people.”
Asha went on to echo Vanessa Morgan’s sentiments that she was tired of playing a side-kick.
She said, “I’m so much more, and Black people are so much more, than support systems.
It becomes toxic messaging when we are perpetuating this idea that there’s any less validity
to my own life than yours, that my sole purpose in this world is to support someone who looks
like you.
It’s so much bigger than Riverdale.
It’s a bigger conversation about how we are humanizing Black people on screen in all
capacities.”
And at one point during the livestream, Lili brought up the Riverdale creator’s apology
to Vanessa.
Lili said that she was proud of Roberto for the work they were doing on the show.
Lili said quote, “I talked to Roberto the other day and he said that he felt like he
wanted to bring the Pussycats back to the show to do right by their characters.
I think people are learning and growing and we have to give them a chance to make the
adjustments.
We can say, ‘This isn’t work,’ or, ‘This is wrong.
This needs to be fixed.’
Now it’s like, OK, let’s give people a chance to learn and make those changes.”
And Lili went on to defend Roberto and some fans were not having it.
“Roberto prides himself on, he wants Riverdale to be spearheading a movement of television
shows that takes what happening in the world right now and actually does something about
it.”
Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on what Lili had to say about Roberto.
One person wrote quote, “lili defending Roberto was straight up her privilege talking.
She doesn’t know what it’s like to be mistreated on the show.
Vanessa, asha, and ashleigh been through and mistreated constantly.
Yea he’s learning but the only reason he apologized was because WE called him out”
Another fan chimed in and said quote, “Lili needs to realise that she cannot respond to
this situation because she will never understand what it is to be a black woman employed by
roberto, and the only way these insta lives are going to work if she talks less about
it and listens more.”
And this person called both Lili and Roberto out saying quote, “i'm sorry but i gotta
disagree with lili saying roberto is learning... this man is grown and this shit is not new.
please he's only "learning" now because he got rightfully called out.”
But other fans came to Lili and Roberto’s defense saying that they need space to learn
like this person who wrote quote, “This is new for a lot of people.
We can't shame people who are trying to learn.
The whole point of this movement was to educate.
YES hold Roberto fucking accountable.
But give him a chance to take in the outcry and grow.”
Another person added that there was way more to Lili and Asha’s conversation than this
one bit about Riverdale.
They wrote quote, “it was a dynamic I didn’t even care about it there was so much intelligent
conversation on the live that it’s irrelevant.
This fan agreed saying quote, “couldn’t watch it earlier but lili and asha's instagram
live.. so good, educational and inspiring @ashabrom @lilireinhart your words girls were
amazing.
thanks.”
And this person wrote quote, “@lilireinhart and @ashabrom had one of the most enlightening,
mature and engaging conversations I have seen, Asha is 100% right even if Lili was uncomfortable
she allowed herself to listen to Asha & her struggles to try and understand & grow and
that is all we can ask #Riverdale.”
And Lili has been continuing to share her platform with Black activists, actors, advocates,
and creators.
The conversations are all saved on her IGTV and are definitely well worth watching.
And if you want more on what Vanessa Morgan had to say about the racial inequalities on
Riverdale, click right over here for another Clevver News video.
Also, please share your thoughts down in the comments below about Lili and Asha’s conversation.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys!