Earlier this year is was confirmed that The Flash had been renewed for a 9th season. With its 8th season finale the series also surpassed the record set by Arrow, becoming the longest-running Arrowverse show with 171 episodes. But behind-the-scenes one of the series’ biggest names has been fighting a battle with racist fans online.
In a brand new interview on The Open Up Podcast (shared by Variety), Candice Patton has opened up about her experience in the series’ early days.
“Now people understand how fans can be racist, especially in genre [film and tv], but at the time it was kind of just like, ‘That’s how fans are, whatever,’” Patton says in the interview. “Even with the companies I was working with, The CW and WB, that was their way of handling it. We know better now. It’s not ok to treat your talent that way, to let them go through abuse and harassment. For me in 2014, there were no support systems. No one was looking out for that. It was free range to get abused every single day. There were no social media protocols in place to protect me, so they just let all that stuff sit there.”
The actress – beloved by many as Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) wife Iris – even considered quitting the series during its second season. Ultimately Patton decided to stay with the show, committing to the minority casting and the responsibility which came with it.
“It’s just not enough to make me your lead female and say, ‘Look at us, we’re so progressive, we checked the box.’ It’s great, but you’ve put me in the ocean alone around sharks. It’s great to be in the ocean, but I can get eaten alive out here.”
The actor stressed that “there has to be people in positions of power who understand my experience and understand the Black experience and the Black female experience who can say, ‘Ok she needs protection.’ Any time you hire a minority of any kind you have to be prepared to protect them. In the real world, we are not protected. So just because you put us on a fancy Hollywood set, with the hair and makeup and you assume we’re safe, we are not safe.”
Rounding out the interview Patton also stressed that her experience has improved over the years. Even so it is still incredibly sad to hear that in this day and age actors still face this kind of racial backlash.
The Flash airs will return in early 2023 on The CW.
