Riverdale creator promises to ‘do better’ after Vanessa Morgan’s diversity criticism

Creator promised show would ‘get bigger, not smaller’

Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has publicly apologised to actor Vanessa Morgan following her comments about the way black actors are treated on the show.

Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz, spoke out this week about her treatment on the the CW teen series in light of Black Lives Matter protests, claiming that she was paid the least of any of the female actors despite being the “only black series regular”.

In response, Aguirre-Sacasa confirmed Morgan’s allegations, writing on Instagram: “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 honour her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of colour.”

He continued: “Change is happening and will continue to happen. Riverdale will get bigger, not smaller. Riverdale will be part of the movement, not outside it.”

Explaining that all of the show’s writers had donated to Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, he explained: “We know where the work must happen for us. In the writer’s room,” captioning the post: “#hearvanessamorgan.”

Across a series of social media posts, Morgan had told fans that she was tired of being cast as “sidekick non-dimensional characters to our white leads” and used in advertising for “diversity” but barely given any screen time.

“To my black fans, I have now made it my purpose to fight for us,” she wrote. “To the six year old me who had no role model that looked like me on TV. This is for you. We aren’t your token black non dimensional characters. This is being black in Hollywood. I will fight for YOU.

 

 

 

 

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#hearvanessamorgan #blmla #riverdale ❤️

A post shared by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (@writerras) on Jun 4, 2020 at 7:34pm PDT

“And I will no longer take roles that don’t properly represent us. PERIOD.”