Candice Patton Star Of The Flash Talks About Lack Of Support She Got When Facing Racist Harassment
Talented actress Candice Patton has opened up about a hard time in her life when in the early years of the CW show The Flash she felt alone against harassment from racist fans by The CW and Warner Bros.
In a time long ago, when the Arrowverse was still burgeoning and just making its way into the world before Warner Bros. butchered it alive, The Flash was the second show to come to life. With a brilliant main actor and a wonderful cast surrounding him, DC fans had every reason to be excited for this wonderful universe which was now expanding. That was until the ignorant, backward-thinking, cave-trolling fools came out of their holes and ventured into the only place they have any real power, the online world to attack one of the co-stars of the show, Candice Patton.
Candice Patton who was a 26-year-old actress at the time of the show's premiere played the role of Iris-West, who would go on to become Iris-West-Allen, Barry Allen A.K.A The Flash's wife. Before landing that role she appeared in many other hugely popular TV Shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Entourage, and many more. But most of the time it was either one of or just a few episodes. The Flash was her first major starring role, and landing such a major role, especially for such a young actress is a thing that one should be commended for. She should have been celebrated, commended, and specially protected by the studios that had the faith in her to give her this role. But as recent events have shown us, Warner Bros. and any company associated with them have a track record of doing this and it seems no matter how many times they are called out, no matter how many times we see their wrongdoing they never learn.
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On The Open Up Podcast, Patton talked about her personal experiences. She said during the talk that she typically chooses not to participate in podcasts and other interviews, but because she is acquainted with the presenter of The Open Up, she felt at ease sharing her experiences.
"Now people understand how fans can be racist, especially in genre, misogynistic, all of that," Patton said. "But at the time, it was kind of like, 'That's how fans are, but whatever.' Even with the companies I was working with, [The] CW, Warner Bros., I think that was their way of handling it."
"For me in 2014, there were no support systems," Patton continued. "It was free-range to get abused every single day." The performer admitted that the hostility she endured occasionally made her wonder if she really wanted to keep playing the character in the show. Speaking about getting the role and her subsequent experiences, she said of the studio, "It's just not enough to make me your lead female and say, 'Look at us, we're so progressive, we checked the box,'" comparing the experience to being thrown in an ocean alone with sharks. "It's great to be in the ocean, but I can get eaten alive out here." Patton mentioned during the podcast that people "know better now" when it comes to stars' experiences with racism, adding that "It's not okay to treat your talent that way, to let them go through abuse and harassment."
It is not right though, in any shape or form that people "NOW" know better, this was never ok no matter the year we are living in. People are finally holding each other and studios accountable, putting the spotlight on them when they let this sort of disgusting behavior go unchecked. Because if heads of studios had any conscience, any dignity they would have stamped this behavior out years ago. And no I do not mean they would have eliminated racism but they could have curbed it more than it is today. If they stood shoulder to shoulder with their talent and told them in plain English, that anyone that abuses our talent cause of the color of their skin is not welcome in our universe it would have at least been something. And it's not only Warner Bros., every major studio needs to do more, Disney, Netflix, Sony, Peacock, each one of them. The only difference is that while other studios are doing something little as it may be and not to the scale others would want it to be, Warner Bros. seems still to be in the shrugging phase of it all because none of us will ever really forget how they acted towards Ray Fisher while then protecting people like Ezra Miller and Amber Heard. Racism is not okay, discrimination of any kind no matter what is not ok, it has no place in the world we live in and especially the world we all want our future generations to live in. Together it actually can be erased from our civilization, it may sound far-fetched but it is the truth, but the word "Together" is the most important word there, because in unity there can be no fracture.
Source: The Open Up Podcast