Racism on the CW’s Riverdale

It’s interesting how Berlanti Productions finds new and creative ways to emasculate and humiliate Black men on their shows. On last night’s Riverdale, it seemed like someone was expressing their anger regarding what Bill Cosby was alleged to have done to all those women over 50 years ago.

On last night’s Riverdale Chuck Clayton was portrayed completely out of character. And instead of being the friendly artist portrayed in the comics he became a cipher for Bill Cosby. After going out on a date with Veronica Lodge Chuck goes around spreading rumors on social media about giving Sticky Maples to Veronica Lodge and whole host of White women in Riverdale.

And instead of watching him get emasculated over a season like James Olson, he’s SO LAME he’s just lying on his dick.

Damn. Just Damn.

I can see Reggie doing shit like this, but since he’s Asian on this show I guess Berlanti doesn’t thinks Asian men have a dick big enough to lie on like Chuck does. Don’t you just love the covert racism in this allegedly diverse series?

It seems like Berlanti is all for diversity. On the surface. Yeah, Pop Tate and Mr. Weatherbee, Josie, and the Mayor of Riverdale are Black in his adaptation of Archie Comics characters, but the one black character who is core to the Archiverse is portrayed completely out of character all because someone seems to be holding a grudge against Bill Cosby.

DAMN. JUST GOT DAMN.

The way Chuck Clayton was portrayed on February 9^th’s episode of Riverdale was a passive aggressive way of taking a jab at Bill Cosby for those alleged rapes of White women and emasculating the Black man yet again. Saying he’s handsome enough to get White women like Veronica Lodge, but didn’t have enough balls to close the deal with them.

Fuck You Berlanti. FUCK YOU.

Then there was the way the Black Scout was portrayed. The one Black male in Dilton’s scout troop is portrayed as a COWARD.

Again, FUCK YOU Berlanti. FUCK YOU.

I’m noticing a double standard on these CW comic adaptaions: It’s okay for White men like Steel & Barry Allen to have interracial relationships with Vixen and Iris West, however, when it comes to Black men like James Olsen and Chuck Clayton pursuing relationships with White women like Supergirl it’s considered wrong.

And when I look at the way Chuck Clatyon was portrayed on Riverdale, the double standard turns into racism. Chuck has gone from the friendly artist into an emasculated Black Brute wannabe who thinks about savaging White women, but doesn’t have the balls to go face to face with them after being called out for saying he put sticky maple from his wood on their faces.

Damn. Just Got Damn.

Riverdale was going well until this episode. This one story pretty much put a stain on what was a promising series. While it’s in character for Reggie Mantle to pull shit like this, it’s COMPLETELY OUT OF CHARACTER FOR CHUCK.

Yeah, Chuck is the coach’s son. But Chuck was never portrayed like this in the comics. And it seems like this episode wasn’t about staying true to the spirit of the characters, but about Berlanti Productions continuing to push a misandristic agenda to tarnish the image of Black men. Chuck Clayton was a cipher for Bill Cosby and the producers’ perception of what they believe he did to all those White women years ago.

As a writer with 20 plus years under my belt I’ve got some advice for Greg Berlanti and his writers: Keep it professional. Keep your personal biases about celebrities like Bill Cosby out of your shows and stay true to your characters. With Riverdale, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow you’re paid to write and produce an adaptation of DC and Archie Comics, not use characters as ciphers to express your opinions on celebrities like Bill Cosby and allegations about sexual assaults that were alleged to have happened 50 years ago. That’s the height of unprofessionalism.

You want to do an episode about cyber bullying do an episode about Cyber bullying. Stay true to the characters. Stay true to the story model. In the Archieverse Reggie doing shit like this we can believe. But Chuck? HELL NO.

Yeah, I know Riverdale is an adaptation of Archie Comics and its characters. But the episode of Riverdale aired on February 9, 2017 was completely unprofessional and in poor taste. Everything from Chuck lying on his dick to Betty giving Chuck muscle relaxers to the BDSM undertones was completely out of character for the image of Archie Comics and their characters. If Archie’s editorial bosses don’t call you out for that episode, then they shouldn’t be in their jobs. That episode aired on February 9, 2017 completely betrayed mission of Archie’s characters and compromised the integrity of the Archie Comics brand.

Plain and simple Berlanti dropped the ball with the handling of Chuck Clayton. And he showed how racist he and his production company is to characters of color. In one episode of Riverdale he completely emasculates Chuck Clayton by having Betty and Veronica sadistically humiliate him in a hot tub. Yeah, the character lied on his dick. But the BDSM undertones in his emasculation show the real place where Berlanti and his writers want Black men to be in their fantasy series.

At the bottom of the world under the feet of White women.

In between turning a badass like Mr. Terrific into a BITCH, making James Olsen into the Guardian of the Friendzone, killing Julio Mendez, and making Chuck Clayton into a douchenozzle, he clearly shows his contempt for Black men in every one of his shows. I could excuse one Black character being mishandled. But after last night’s episode of Riverdale I’m clearly noticing a pattern with all these Black male characters on Berlanti Productions programs. They’re either there to be humble servants like John Diggle on Arrow, or they’re just portrayed to be the butt of a cruel joke like James Olsen, Mr. Terrific and Chuck Clayton. Breathing new life into old stereotypes from 1937 in 2017.

The more these Berlanti shows remain on the air, the more I appreciate Netflix’s Luke Cage. It seems that’s the only show where we can see a Black man presented in a positive humanized light and in a dignified respectable way. Some call Luke Cage too Black, but after seeing the way Chuck Clayton was portrayed on Riverdale, I understand why we need Black people behind the scenes adapting our characters for the screen.