What’s up y’all, it’s Emile Ennis Jr. with Clevver News, and if you thought there
couldn’t possibly be more drama to fill the quaint town of Riverdale, this year has
brought even more drama among the show’s cast IRL.
Let’s break it all down.
Fans of the hit CW series Riverdale are well-aware by now that common side effects after watching
each episode are typically related to (but aren’t limited to) heavy breathing, loss
of words, and a sudden state of pure shock.
And while the newest trailer for the upcoming fifth season teases even more action and suspense,
the cast has also experienced their share of drama and missteps over the course of this
year behind the scenes.
Back in May, protests broke out throughout the United States following the tragic deaths
of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, to which millions of Americans and people around the
world came together in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Just on the heels of the protests, Lili Reinhart took to social media back in June to post
a since-deleted nude photo to Instagram with the caption reading, “Now that my sideboob
has gotten your attention, Breonna Taylor’s murderers have not been arrested.
Demand justice.”
The only thing that fans ‘demanded’ was for Lili to delete the photo immediately,
claiming that this wasn’t exactly the right way to ‘demand justice.’
Following the backlash, Lili took to Twitter to share a statement with fans writing, “I’ve
always tried to use my platform for good.
And speak up about things that are important to me.”
She went on to say, “I also can admit when I make a mistake and I made a mistake with
my caption.
It was never my intent to insult anyone and I’m truly sorry to those that were offended.”
Lili also admitted that she is “still learning and trying to be better,” but that she completely
understands why her caption came off as tone deaf.
KJ Apa also faced backlash earlier this year for sharing a video that misinformed viewers
about the ongoing pandemic.
Back in July, KJ shared a video to his Instagram stories, writing, “Wake up America!
Watch and share please!”
The since-deleted video reportedly claimed that a cure for the coronavirus had “been
found and proven and has been available for months,” and the doctor speaking in the
clip also claimed that face masks were not necessary to stop the spread of the disease.
This was especially ironic considering the Riverdale set has enforced many restrictions
that cast and crew must follow each day, including using mouthwash in between kissing scenes,
rapid testing and quarantining in between filming.
KJ, as well as Madonna, who shared the same video, received so much backlash for spreading
false information, that Instagram went as far as removing the video entirely from the
platform.
A spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard, QUOTE, “We’ve removed this video for making
false claims about cures and prevention methods for COVID-19.
People who reacted to, commented on, or shared this video will see messages directing them
to authoritative information about the virus.”
That didn’t stop fans from criticizing him for not doing research before he shared a
harmful post to his 18 million followers.
KJ never ended up addressing the video, and has continued posting to social media.
Vanessa Morgan, who plays Southside Serpent Toni Topaz, experienced some extreme highs
and lows in 2020 after announcing that she was pregnant with her first child, a son who
has not yet been named.
Fans were quick to notice that her husband, White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech, was nowhere
to be mentioned in her sweet tribute to her unborn son, but it seemed there was a pretty
good reason for that.
Just days later, news broke that Michael filed for divorce from Vanessa in his native state
of Texas after just six months of marriage.
Although the reason for the split still remains unclear, a rep for Vanessa did confirm that
Michael is, in fact, the father.
Vanessa is due next month and as far as her role on Riverdale goes, it still hasn’t
been confirmed whether or not her pregnancy will be written into the show, but by the
looks of it, there doesn’t seem to be much she can do to hide a 7-month-pregnant belly.
Just last month she shared this photo while filming on set, writing QUOTE, “Filming
on stage with live snakes yesterday haha can’t wait to show my lil guy what his mom was doing
8 weeks before he was born.
#RiverdaleS5.”
Vanessa also made headlines before announcing her pregnancy earlier this year during the
Black Lives Matter protests as she called out the way Black people are portrayed in
shows and films, as well as the fact that she’s paid less than her white costars.
She got #HearVanessaMorgan trending on Twitter, and the attention of showrunner Roberto Aguirre
Sacasa, who tweeted in support of her.
And we can’t forget about yet another Riverdale breakup between on-and-offscreen couple Lili
Reinhart and Cole Sprouse AKA Bughead.
After months of speculation, Cole confirmed the news back in August, telling fans that
he and Lili initially separated back in January, and further decided to make it permanent in
March.
He shared a sweet photo of her, writing, “What an incredible experience I had, I’ll always
feel lucky and cherish that I had the chance to fall in love.
I wish her nothing but the utmost love and happiness moving forward.
All I’ll say about it, anything else you hear doesn’t matter.”
The two began dating around 2017 and were rumored to have broken up in July of 2019,
as reported by Us Weekly at the time.
On multiple occasions, Lili slammed reports and the “vile” sources who continued commenting
on their relationship.
She also called out another outlet just a day before Cole posted his statement, claiming
that her quotes about going through a “withdrawal from love” and “leaving a relationship”
were misconstrued and were “not about a breakup.”
She said, “They are about the depression I've felt over these last few months.
I would never speak so candidly about something as personal as a breakup.
That's incredibly private.
I was addressing my depression.”
We’re all going through it this year, but we can only hope that 2021 brings much less
drama than a shocking, spine-tingling Riverdale season finale.
For all the drama going down on the set of The Ellen Show, you can click right over here
to watch another Clevver video.
Then be sure to let me know your thoughts on all the Riverdale cast drama throughout
the year right down here in the comments.
I’m your host Emile Ennis Jr., bye guys.