The audacity and unmitigated gall of racist “purists” of a TV show or film that attack Black cast members because they don’t look like the fictional character they envisioned in their lily white minds...is something I wish wasn’t in real-life syndication... but, unfortunately, it is. It’s the circle of strife.
The most recent case has to do with the popular teen sitcom iCarly, which originally debuted in 2007 and aired on Nickelodeon until 2012. Shout-out to the epic reference from The Wire that I, along with Black Twitter will never forget! Cut to today and the beloved series is being revived and is set to debut on Paramount+ on June 17. Original actors Miranda Cosgrove (who portrays the titular character, Carly), Nathan Kress (Freddie) and Jerry Trainor (Spencer) are reprising their roles.
With reboots and revivals, there are typically changes to freshen things up a bit. Charge it to the game, right? Well, one change—specifically, the casting of Laci Mosely—apparently brought out the racists. As in, Mosely received a barrage of racist attacks via social media—including but not limited to being called many variations of the N-word.
iCan’t with these racist iCarly “fans” (I put that designation in quotes because are you really a fan of a show if you terrorize the cast and crew from the damn show?!). Maybe we should call them “iKKKarly Hive.”
Here’s more background on what happened and how this escalated so quickly, via People:
Mosley, 29, is playing the character of Harper who is Miranda Cosgroves’ character Carly’s best friend.
Several fans of the original sitcom falsely believed the Black actress was replacing Jennette McCurdy’s character Sam Puckett. McCurdy, 28, did not return for the reboot.
Well, this entitlement sounds familiar. Black Ariel, anyone?
“My sister telling me that she saw several videos about me on TikTok being racist as fuck broke my heart,” Mosley tweeted. “Me and my sister are 13 years apart she’s like my child and her having to see this shit broke me. I don’t know what’s wrong with you people but you need to seek help.”
“I’m gonna thug it out y’all can’t break me,” she continued. “I’ve been through too much. But fuck you weirdos, being a Black woman is so hard but so lit I’m gonna go harder you’ll be mad forever.”
Say that, sis!
One of the writers on staff for the show, 2017 The Root 100 honoree Franchesca Ramsey—you may have heard of her; we also interviewed her!—used her platform to call further attention to the highly disturbing comments tweeting, “I’m sad this has to be said but if I’m being honest...I kinda expected it. And I hate that. It’s heartbreaking that Black women just EXISTING results in an onslaught of racist abuse. It’s not ok. And being a bystander isn’t ok either.”
“Would also ask that you send love to our youngest #iCarly cast member Jaidyn [Triplett],” Ramsey later tweeted. “Thankfully her parents run her social media but that doesn’t make the things being said about her any less hurtful.”
The official iCarly social media accounts also released a statement (which cast members such as Cosgrove reposted) noting, “iCarly are proud to be racially diverse, not only in our crew but in our cast. We have recently seen reports of racism towards a member of our iCarly cast, and it is not acceptable! Please think about your words and take time to understand how what you say can impact other people.”
Paramount+ also released a statement via social media which read, “Our company is proud to uphold the values of inclusivity and collaboration, where we work to embrace new and diverse voices, act with care and work together. The upcoming Paramount+ iCarly series is one of many examples of this commitment, and we support our entire cast and crew and stand against all instances of hate and racism.”
We send our well wishes to the cast and crew of iCarly!