The Flash’s Candice Patton opened up about her time on the set of The CW show and claimed that she was mistreated and faced unequal treatment compared to her white co-stars.
Patton, who plays journalist Iris-West Allen, has been with the long-running Arrowverse series since it debuted in October 2014.
However, while recently speaking on The Open Up Podcast, the actress spoke out about her on-set experience and the backlash from fans when she initially took on the role.
Patton said that with the responsibility of “creating spaces for women of colour” in the superhero genre came “dangerous” consequences, especially because there were no protocols in place to help protect her.
“It’s a dangerous place to be in when you’re one of the first, and you’re facing backlash for it and there’s no help,” she claimed. “Now, people understand a little better and they understand how fans can be racist, especially in genre, and misogynistic. But at the time it was kind of like: ‘Yeah that’s how fans are, but whatever’.”
She added: “With the companies I was working with like CW and Warner Brothers, that was their way of handling it. I think we know better now that it’s not okay to treat your talent that way and to let them go through this abuse and harassment.
“But for me in 2014, there were no support systems, no one was looking out for that. It was just free range to get abused every single day.”
Patton also described how she was mostly “frustrated” by what she claimed was the unequal treatment she received on set compared to her white co-stars.
“It was more about the protocols in place and the things I see happening for my white counterpart that’s not happening to me,” she said. “Seeing how I was treated differently than other people. Seeing how I’m not protected by the network and the studio. Those were the things that not necessarily hurt me but frustrated me.”
The actress also said she wanted to leave the show after only two seasons, but she felt a responsibility to stay on for the fans she represented and for those who loved the character.
“It was hard in that aspect, the on set aspect. I wanted to leave the show as early as season two. I remember being like: ‘I can’t do this, I’m not gonna make it through, I’m severely unhappy.”
Source: digitalspy.com