Does The CW Network Care About Candice Patton, Javicia Leslie, and Other Black Actresses?

CW really has a history for not having a safe space and mistreatment of their black actresses. The network already has a bad rep on how they used their black characters as pretty much a prop. It took Vanessa Morgan to call out the ‘Riverdale’ creator and writers about how they use their black characters. Riverdale’s creator, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa promised that the show would make changes in order to honor it’s “actors and characters of color” after Morgan seemingly called him out for the handling of Black characters in the past. Lili Reinhart even had to go on Instagram live to speak with Asha Bromfield, who portrayed Pussycat Melody Valentine in the first season. The trio haven’t been seen in the series since the second season. They will finally return in season 5 after the creator made some changes last year after receiving backlash.

Candice Patton has racist trolls coming after her for portraying Iris West in CW’s ‘The Flash.’ Patton has always spoken about the racist people who come after her daily. CW finally addressed it last year after the death of George Floyd. It pretty much took them six seasons to come to Patton defense.

this is nice and all but let's not forget Candice Patton has been speaking up about the racist comments she's been attacked with from "fans" of this show for 6 seasons and they're just now doing something https://t.co/JNfd1FBwww

— Katie Minard (@KatieMinard) June 15, 2020

Dr. Kristen J. Warner, an associate professor at the University of Alabama and the author of The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting even wrote about it.

I wrote about the IWDS who defended Iris West/Candice Patton bc at the time I was researching black lady fandoms this one was badly needed. https://t.co/gXqXT1nW7r pic.twitter.com/Hjbd6onJCm

— Dr. KW: Ready for Summer break (@kristenwarner) June 16, 2020

When Patton first started out as Iris West on ‘The Flash,’ ​the executive producers warned her about the racism she will receive on the daily. They pretty much told her to stay off of social media to avoid these racist attacks instead of coming to her aid.

“Once I got cast, he was like ‘Don’t go online. Just don’t go on.’ But what’s great is, I think over time, people have embraced me and have embraced this character and I think it’s really important,” Patton said in a panel back in 2018.

Now, we have Javicia Leslie dealing with racist trolls and co-star Wallis Day, who portrays Kate Kane, thinks it’s funny.

One of Wallis Day fan pages were using monkey emojis when referring to Javicia Leslie. A fan checked Day for not telling her fan pages to stop it and not supporting Javicia Leslie. This was Day’s response to being told of all the racist attacks against Javicia Leslie from her fam pages.

This is who people support as Kate Kane? A woman who posts laughing emojis in response to people posting racist emojis towards Javicia Leslie and Ryan Wilder?? #Batwoman pic.twitter.com/4kS2UHkwHB

— ᴊᴇʟᴀ (@jelevision) September 22, 2021

Day replied with laughing emojis, she even started to block Javicia fans instead of apologizing for her tweet.

https://twitter.com/tomatosandwichh/status/1440810966019555328?s=21

So you can get your nasty ass online and block me but you can't speak up when addressed about your blatant anti blackness this morning and your non stop fueling to Kate fans who are damn near VIOLENTLY racist to Javicia @wallisday. That's why you on the outside begging. pic.twitter.com/IJlF3qLsso

— ♊︎ (@haworthes) September 22, 2021

Girl, what happened 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/oapwBA49Cn

— cowboy tori 🫶🏾 (@torijoy09) September 22, 2021

It’s disappointing that Black Women on these CW sets and sets all around Hollywood have to deal with this at their place of work. The CW Network have yet to address Wallis Day tweets.

Why laughing + thumbs up emojis?
Why can't she grasp that liking/commenting on posts about "whaaa Kate must return AS Batwoman" fueled hate towards JavL

Same racist-fueling DP did for 6yrs about SB needing 2b a couple knowing it was to counter WA & that racists loved that shit pic.twitter.com/ibz81ZjjP6

— 💜⚡️TheOnesWhoLive 🔥 #Richonne 🍕 💍 #WestAllen⚡️ (@CandicanesU) September 22, 2021

Seeing this shit with Wallis Day a literal DAY after that live with Javicia Leslie and the other black women, literally just furthers their point. I wanna see all those “Restore Kate Kane as Batwoman” accounts and posts go down by tomorrow. Just vile shit

— Camilla Cabello’s Racism Therapist (@runmemymoneyplz) September 22, 2021

Do you think The CW network cares about their black talent and creatives?