Actress Lacy Mosley is one of the stars of the new “iCarly” reboot.
However, many diehard ‘iCarly’ purists have flooded Mosley’s mentions with racial slurs and abuse, claiming that she’s a “Black replacement” for Carly’s best friend.
Mosley plays a young lady named Harper in the new series. She says their gripes could not be any further from the truth.
“She’s not a replacement of Sam,” Mosley told The Los Angeles Times. “She’s not a substitution. She’s a completely different person. She’s queer, she’s Black — and not in a stereotypical way. We don’t even address her queerness as something odd. Harper never has a coming out. She’s just queer. It’s normal. No one cares, you know, and I love that about the role. But also, she’s really fun. She pushes Carly into doing crazy things all the time.”
In May, Mosley responded to her critics, condemning the onslaught of racist attacks.
“I love being Black. I hate how Black people are treated on this planet. I took this role on iCarly because the room is diverse,” she wrote.
“I was shocked when a celebration of all the hard work we’ve put into making this reboot was overshadowed by the most racism I’ve ever experienced in my life over the course of 72 hours. I felt silly being so upset because I’ve been in this little brown body my entire life and racism isn’t new but it still hurts,” she continued, later adding, “Black is beautiful and no amount of slurs or vitriol you dump online will change that. 🖤”
Mosley is not the first Black actress to face this particular kind of abuse.
When it was first announced that Halle Bailey would be starring as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” live-action movie, she too faced a wave of trolls who felt that Ariel should only be played by a white actress.
Mosley remains strong. However, she, much like the majority of Black women, feel we are rarely protected. At least not in the ways which count.
“Black women deserve protection. We deserve care. We deserve to not be the mules for every single cause — and then when we need help and support, that’s nowhere to be found,” Mosley said.
“Breonna Taylor deserves to be alive and her killers definitely deserve to be in jail. We’ve seen so many times Black women’s work is monetized, stolen from us, you know, and we’re abused. … It’s time for Black women to get their share because Black women have been out here from day one fighting for everybody.”
