Riverdale’s Vanessa Morgan Tired Of Playing Sidekick To White Characters

Empowered by the upswing of anti-racist protests taking over the nation and tired of how she and fellow Black actors are treated by the industry — and her own show — “Riverdale” star Vanessa Morgan is speaking out.

The actress, who plays Toni Topaz on The CW series, first got fired up on Sunday after a supposed fan claimed Ashleigh Murray was “written off” the show because she was a “known diva” who didn’t want to share the screen with other women.

“You don’t know what the f–k your [sic] talking about and don’t talk about my friend like that,” Morgan replied to the since-deleted tweet. “Another thing i hate BLACK women being called DIVAS for sticking up for themselves. Maybe the show should write for her like the white characters. You picked the wrong day get off my page.”

She followed it up with a note, along with the comment, “I’m not being [quiet] anymore.”

In the note, Morgan said she was “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 side kick non dimensional characters to our white leads. Or only used in the ads for diversity but not actually in the show.”

When a supporter said “Riverdale” was getting “double the diversity” and “more bang for their buck” because Morgan’s character is also part of an LGBTQ+ storyline with Madelaine Petsch’s Cheryl Blossom, she just had to laugh.

“Lmao too bad I’m the only black series regular but also paid the least,” she replied. “girl i could go on for days. But exactly, used as the token biracial bisexual.”

She went on to clarify that she has no ill-will toward any of her costars, saying “they don’t write the show.” Morgan then advised her followers to not “attack” them, adding, “they don’t call the shots & I know they have my back.”

Proving her point, costar Lili Reinhart replied, saying, “We love you, V. And support you 10000%.”

Retweeting a post from Cleveland Browns’ Grant Delpit about seeing people “of all colors come together to work towards a new normal,” Morgan later said she finally feels like she “can speak up for myself and my fellow brothers and sisters & be heard.”

“Usually everyone is fake listening,” she added. “I really hope a change is coming.”

After Morgan’s post started making headlines, Asha Bromfield — who played Melody of the Pussycats on the show — sounded off as well.

“Don’t even get me started with how Riverdale treated the Pussycats,” she said, retweeting an article about Morgan. “We had so much more to contribute than standing in the background and adding sass to a storyline. I stand with you @VanessaMorgan”

The CW was not immediately available for comment.