Online Racist Attacks On The Flash’s Candice Patton, Says CW Left Her ‘Unprotected’

By Mathhew Paul On Jul 12, 2022

As Candice Patton reveals, she was “severely dissatisfied” “as early as” season 2 on The Flash and wanted to leave the show.

When speaking with the presenter of The Open Up Podcast, Elliot Knight, the 34-year-old actress spoke up about her time as the star of the CW show and how difficult it has been since the show premiered in 2014.

Until Patton landed the role of Iris West, a character who had always been depicted as white in the comics, Iris West was played by a woman of color.

There were few shows in 2014 that included a black female lead, especially when the original character was a white woman.

A ripple effect from Patton’s casting was felt throughout the comic book adaptation industry, which led to similar castings for Iris West in The Justice League and The Flash by Kiersey Clemons and Michelle Jones aka MJ by Zendaya in the Marvel Spider-Man films by Ashleigh Murray and Katy Keene by Leslie Grace on DC’s Titans and Riverdale.

Even so, she’s had to deal with a lot of hardships. When Patton’s role in the film was announced, she says she was bombarded with racial abuse on the internet.

It was reported that despite the network and studio’s efforts to diversify their shows, the actress claimed that they had no protocols in place to protect her from the onslaught of hate mail from fans.

There was a rumor that the producers of The Flash didn’t anticipate what would happen on the Internet. It was “a lot of responsibility” and “a lot of attention” for Patton to take on the show and “change the way people view the superhero genre and create spaces for women of color who have never had that.

” When you’re one of the first and you’re experiencing so much reaction from it and there is no support, it’s a very dangerous spot to be in,” she explained.

Actors Leah Jeffries and Moses Ingram, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, both experienced hostility after their castings were announced. Patton, on the other hand, thinks she didn’t receive the same level of online support as her co-stars and production team.

“Fans of the genre (movies and TV shows) are notorious for their racist tendencies, but at the time, it was taken for granted that that was just the way fans were.

The CW and WB, the businesses I worked for, handled it in the same manner “she claimed. “Now that we’ve learned from our mistakes, we’ll do things differently. It is unacceptable to subject your most valuable employees to such treatment.

In 2014, I had no means of support. That wasn’t being watched over by anyone. Every every day, it was given the freedom to be misused without any restrictions. That information sat there because they didn’t have any social media policies in place to keep it from happening again.”

Patton went on, saying “You can’t just put me in the starring role and say, “Look at us, we’re so progressive, we checked the box.” But you have put me in the water alone with sharks, which is amazing. Although being near water is wonderful, I’m afraid I could perish out here.”

Patton’s experience wasn’t simply stressful because he had to deal with online haters. The actress remembers feeling undervalued in comparison to her white coworkers. According to her, the official Flash Instagram account didn’t initially follow her on the social media platform.

“Besides, I couldn’t care less what Joe in Indiana thinks because my check just cleared and it was a big one, Joe. To believe that your tweet has any effect on me is absurd,” she remarked on the subject.

“However, it’s the little things that bother me the most. In contrast to my white peers, I’m not experiencing any of the same protocols or experiences. The network and studio aren’t going to protect me, so “She said she had heard that. This was the stuff that didn’t injure me, but it did get under my skin since it was so frustrating.