- All right, welcome back.
Our next guest stars in the hit show Riverdale.
And you can see it on the CW and on Netflix.
Let's say hello to Charles Melton everybody.
(audience applauds) (upbeat music)
Hello, it's lovely to meet you.
- Lovely to meet you too, Kelly.
- Yes, well congrats on all the success, man.
Riverdale is so massive and you have a huge fan base.
What's your craziest experience with a fan?
- Craziest experience.
I'd probably say the time a fan
came up to me and she asked me to write love is love.
And I, for some reason I misspelled love
but she was gonna get a tattoo on her wrist.
And I was like, "I'm so sorry,"
and she's like, "No, no, no, I'm gonna keep it."
So I haven't seen it today, but I'm sure,
if you see someone that has love is love
with the love crossed out,
that's probably, that's my artwork.
- Oh my God.
Wait, so wait, you ended up crossing out the love.
Now, it got cool.
So love is dark.
It's a dark tattoo, mind you.
But I think it's cool.
- Thank you.
Yeah, I crossed it out and rewrote it
and she was like, "I'm gonna keep it,"
and I was like, "Okay, cool, awesome."
- I get so nervous when people do that
they asked me to do lyrics and they're,
and I don't know why I'm doing it.
And then they're like, "I'm gonna get it tattooed,"
And I'm like, "I can't express to you
"how bad of an idea that is actually.
"Like you shouldn't do that."
I was like, "You might hate me one day."
I'm just saying like, it could be like
she sucks and it's there.
- It's so much pressure.
'Cause I'm like, all right now it's, do I do cursive?
Do I do block letters?
What do I do?
(Kelly laughs)
- Well, I hear that you love the Food Channel.
So do you cook?
- I do cook.
I try to cook every meal.
- Oh, what's your favorite thing to cook?
- I like to cook a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- Yes.
Crunchy peanut butter or creamy?
- Oh, it's, it depends.
It's crispy on the outside.
It's like a grilled cheese, you know, I layer the butter,
sourdough bread, layer the peanut butter, the jelly
and I just grill it and it is heaven.
I had three last night.
- Three, oh my God.
I want your metabolism.
Okay, so, I want that sandwich too,
it sounds amazing.
I'm crunchy all the way by the way.
But you recently published an essay
about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
And I think this is so important
because you have a huge spotlight on you.
Why was it important to you?
- I felt that it was important to share my story.
My experience.
And you know, I've always had this push and pull
between whether I was Asian enough,
or white enough,
or American enough.
You know, I describe it as two cars being cut in half
and attached together in the middle,
one side being Korean,
the other side being American.
And just depending on the day
I would assimilate with one or the other.
And I just realized that my experience is
an Asian American story, an American story.
And I just felt the, the need to share that.
- Well, I think it's really important.
What steps do you think
that people can take to help the AAPI community?
- I think a step everyone can take
is just recognizing Asian American,
the Asian American experience,
as a part of American history and culture.
As far as the Chinese Exclusion Act,
Japanese interment camps
just understanding the history.
The Asian American history that our countries have.
- Yeah, I think it's important too,
like in school, I remember in school growing up
I only learned that these certain things
in history and I think it's really important,
I think now it's a little more progressive
in all areas of the country,
but I think more progression is needed.
But to really, that's where, when you're a kid
you start learning about all these different cultures
all these different, these people that,
and that's the coolest thing about America
is we're this giant melting pot of all,
I mean, all our people are from somewhere else, you know?
So it's an amazing thing.
I think they should really start incorporating in schools
but I love that you did the essay.
I think it's very important.
And I also think another thing that's cool
that you're doing
you're also a global ambassador for the Special Olympics.
So why is that important to you?
- You know, I grew up a, I'm a former athlete.
I played football at Kansas State University
and being a military brat every two to four years
I was moving to a different place around the world
and I found a sense of community and identity in sports.
So my love for sports, mixed with my love for kids
and finding Special Olympics
and how they encourage inclusivity
and being a part of that
has been a special place in my heart to,
you know, bring awareness to Special Olympics
and inclusivity to,
through my social media platform, Instagram.
- Absolutely, that's what I always say.
It's so cool.
Like, we're blessed with the spotlight, but it's,
it's a bigger blessing to bless others with it.
So it's really cool thing that you're doing
and it is lovely to meet you Charles.
(audience applauds)
- Thanks Kelly, lovely to meet you too.
I'm a huge fan by the way.
- Oh, thank you.
Even if you're lying, I'll take it.
I'm totally messing with you
- I'm a huge fan.
- I'm a huge fan of your peanut butter
and jelly sandwich that I now want.
Well, I am a huge fan of your work too
so you have to come back to the show, all right?
- I've love that, thank you.
- All right, well, everybody be sure
to check out Riverdale on the CW and Netflix.