After her co-star voiced her frustration of how black people are portrayed in the media, the 'Riverdale' actress pledges to go against stereotyping or stereocasting as a producer.
- August 25, 2020
AceShowbiz - Actress Lili Reinhart has pledged to go out of her way to make sure black and transgender stars are properly represented in her TV and movie projects after taking onboard "Riverdale" castmate Vanessa Morgan's complaints.
Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz on the hit comic book adaptation, hit out at the show's writers for their depiction of black characters in a Twitter rant earlier this summer, insisting the roles on offer were "sidekick non dimensional characters to our white leads."
"Tired of how black people are portrayed in Media, tired of us being portrayed as thugs, dangerous or angry scary people," she said. "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."
She added, "too bad I'm the only black series regular but also paid the least... girl i could go on for day (sic)."
Morgan defended her castmates, like Reinhart, insisting, "They don't write the show. So no need to attack them, they don't call the shots & I know they have my back," and it appears Reinhart was paying attention.
"I mean, the show historically has been pretty white," she tells the Los Angeles Times. "(Creator) Roberto (Aguirre-Sacasa) is very conscious of it now to make sure that that doesn't happen again and Vanessa doesn't feel that she's put in that position again."
"I feel, as a producer now moving forward, how important it is that I'm not stereotyping, stereocasting anything - really making sure I'm going out of my way to do right by black people, by transgender people, by people who don't look like me."
