‘Riverdale’ EP Apologizes to Vanessa Morgan, Says ‘She’s Right’ & ‘Change Is Happening’

Meredith Jacobs June 5, 2020, 10:40 am

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Vanessa Morgan Calls Out Riverdale EP Roberto Aguirre Sacasa Rresponse — Diyah Pera/The CW; JC Olivera/Getty Images for National Hispanic Media Coalition

Riverdale executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has promised “change is happening” following Vanessa Morgan’s recent comments about the way black characters are portrayed on television.

“We hear Vanessa. We love Vanessa. She’s right. We’re sorry,” the EP wrote on Twitter Thursday and promised to “do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color.” Morgan, who has played Toni Topaz since Season 2 and been a series regular since Season 3, retweeted his statement.

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“Change is happening and will continue to happen,” he continued. “Riverdale will be part of the movement not outside it.” He added that while the writers donated to the Black Lives Matter movement, they know that it’s “in the writers’ room” that “the work must happen for us.”

#hearvanessamorgan @BLMLA #riverdale ❤️ pic.twitter.com/gnlI8Dh9yz

— RobertoAguirreSacasa (@WriterRAS) June 5, 2020

This statement refers to Morgan’s social media post from Sunday, though she hadn’t named Riverdale in it. In the message, she detailed how she is “tired” of the media’s portrayals of the African-American community “as thugs, dangerous or angry scary people” and “as side kick non dimensional characters to our white leads,” as well as to promote, but not in, the show “for diversity.” In another tweet, she revealed that she’s “the only black series regular but also paid the least.”

Since then, #hearvanessamorgan trended worldwide. Aguirre-Sacasa included it in his tweet as well.