'Corrie' star Channique Sterling-Brown reveals she faces 'really awful' racist abuse

Channique Sterling-Brown has revealed she has faced "really awful" racist abuse on social media since joining Coronation Street.

The star joined the show in September as solicitor Dee-Dee Bailey, but has even been accused by trolls of being "part of some ‘Black supremacy’ movement".

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Sterling-Brown told The Sun that, while the majority of viewers have been supportive of the show's first Black family, there has been some inevitable negativity and abuse.

“There were quite a few comments suggesting I’d been cast to tick a ‘diversity check box’ and that it was ridiculous and overly PC for me to be in the show," she said.

“Which was strange to me, considering Dee-Dee’s presence brings the grand total of black women on the street to two."

Sterling-Brown added: “There was some really awful stuff suggesting I’m part of some ‘Black supremacy’ movement, which was just wild, and Twitter did actually take it down."

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She said that this sort of negativity only illuminates the need to have more Black people in front of the camera and behind the scenes on TV shows of this size.

“I really do feel incredibly proud to be playing Dee-Dee and being part of the soap’s first ever Black family. That’s special, that’s a bit of history," the actor added.

She revealed that a recent interaction with a young fan had really hammered home the important role that her work can play.

"I had a young girl come up to me the other night and she was like: ‘You look like me’," said Sterling-Brown.

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She added: "[The girl] asked for a picture, and it meant so much to me and shows just how important it is to have that diversity on screen.”

The Bailey family were first introduced to Corrie in 2019, but the frequently mentioned Dee-Dee only arrived on the cobbles this year.

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