‘Riverdale’ Creator Addresses Vanessa Morgan’s Diversity Criticism, Promises To “Do Better”

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Riverdale creator and executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has issued an apology to star Vanessa Morgan, following her recent social media post voicing her frustration “of how black people are portrayed in Media” and calling out the popular CW show for its lack of diversity.

“We hear Vanessa. We love Vanessa. She’s right,” Aguirre-Sacasa said in a noted posted on Twitter. “We’re sorry and we make the same promise to you that we did to her. We will do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color. Change is happening and will continue to happen. Riverdale will get bigger, not smaller. Riverdale will be part of the movement, not outside it.”

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He added, “All of the Riverdale writers made a donation to @BLMLA, but we know where the work must happen for us. In the writers’ room.”

Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz on the popular CW series, posted a note on Twitter that read, “Tired of how black people are portrayed in Media, tired of us being portrayed as thugs, dangerous or angry scary people. 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.”

Morgan joined the series as a recurring character in season 2 and was upped to series regular by the next season. She became the only black series regular after Ashleigh Murray, who played Josie McCoy, transited to CW’s Katy Keene after the 3rd season.

Riverdale is slated to return for season 5.

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