The Flash's take on Iris West has always been somewhat divisive, primarily because many of The CW's DC TV shows struggle to tell compelling stories with their female leads.
Unfortunately, there are also many viewers who have taken aim at Candice Patton simply because her Iris is not the white-skinned redhead from the comic books. During a recent interview with The Open Up Podcast, the actor called out The CW and Warner Bros. for not doing enough to protect her from racist trolls during the show's early days.
"Now people understand how fans can be racist, especially in genre, misogynistic, all of that," Patton explained. "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. It was free-range to get abused every single day," she continued. "It's just not enough to make me your lead female and say, 'Look at us, we're so progressive, we checked the box.' It's great to be in the ocean, but I can get eaten alive out here."
Patton would go on to to say that people in Hollywood "know better now" when it comes to how actors are targeted with racist abuse, rightly pointing out that, "It's not okay to treat your talent that way, to let them go through abuse and harassment."
While it's true that there does appear to be a better understanding of the sort of abuse diverse actors face when they're cast in high-profile projects, it's done little to change those who target them. Recently, we've seen Obi-Wan Kenobi star Moses Ingram subjected to racist abuse from Star Wars "fans" who couldn't cope with a Black actor playing a member of the Sith Inquisitors.
The Flash recently wrapped up its eighth season on The CW, and is expected to end its run with a truncated season nine. Despite being the longest-running DC TV series on the network, the series has been running on fumes for a while now, unfortunately.