Candice Patton, the star of “The Flash,” criticizes Warner Bros. and The CW for doing NOTHING to safeguard her from abuse
Candice Patton will always be remembered by fans of the television show “The Flash” as Iris West-Allen, Barry Allen’s wife. The program was a component of the network’s renowned “superhero-verse,” which linked several well-liked CW shows like “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” and “Batwoman.” A testament to how well-liked it was with viewers is the fact that it debuted in October 2014 and finished its eighth season in June 2022. But Patton, who was a part of the series from the start to finish, said it wasn’t all plain sailing.
The actress claims that throughout the early seasons of the series, she was subjected to the vitriol of racist and misogynistic “genre fans,” which almost caused her to leave the program. She said that the network, The CW, and its parent company, Warner Bros., did nothing to help or shield her from the racist response directed at her and instead dismissed the alarming fan behavior as “normal.”
For many years, “The Flash” has been everyone’s favorite television show. However, what we are probably unaware of are the derogatory remarks made by “fans” of the show toward some of its cast members. We are aware that Grant Gustin’s character Barry Allen’s love interest, Iris, was played in the series by Candice Patton. But as the series progressed after the first few seasons, Iris emerged as a compelling lead character in her own right.
In an interview with “The Open Up Podcast,” Candice claims that throughout the early seasons of the series, she experienced racial backlash from the audience but that WB and CW did nothing to assist her. She stated that “it was just free range to get mistreated every single day” and that “there were no support networks, no one was looking out for that.” Because Patton was one of the first Black actresses to have a significant role in the “Arrowverse,” she claims that the studios were unaware of just how serious the issue could be. Patton mentions in the interview that some fans of certain genres can be both racist and misogynistic. Patton went through a similar trial by fire to Moses Ingram, who played ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi,’ earlier this summer, before establishing her role and winning the audience.
She remarked, “Being one of the first is a dangerous position to be in since you will face criticism and have no one to turn to for assistance. Now that people have a greater understanding of how fans may be racist and misogynistic, especially in certain genres, things have improved. At the time, however, it was more of a case of “Yeah, that’s how fans are, but whatever.” That was how the businesses I worked for handled it, including CW and Warner Brothers. I believe that today, we are more aware of the fact that it is unacceptable to mistreat and harass your employees.”
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The star was motivated to leave the program as early as Season 2, but she chose to continue because she felt it was necessary to have significant representation on the show. Candice concurs that people today are more sympathetic toward ethnic actors who are the objects of vile backlash. Ingram’s tragedy, though, shows that there is still more work to be done. While Ingram had support from Lucasfilm, Disney, and her co-stars, Patton claims she experienced harassment from the very system that was supposed to be working in her favor.