‘We Are Not Protected’: Actress Says Racist, Misogynist Fans Almost Made Her Quit ‘The Flash’

Candice Patton, who stars in the CW superhero drama “The Flash,” just went on record saying she was the victim of online harassment so extreme that it almost made her quit the series.

Patton made the remarks during an interview with “The Open Up Podcast,” saying she wanted to quit “‘as early as season two’” because of how fans reacted to her character online. The 34-year-old, who has portrayed Iris West-Allen in the show since 2014, said social media was full of vicious rhetoric about her being black, which led to her being “‘severely unhappy,’” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

 “Now people understand it a little better and they understand how fans can be racist, especially in [the] genre, misogynistic all of that, but at the time it was kind of just like, ‘That’s how fans are, but whatever,’” Patton said during the interview. 

“‘Even with the companies I was working with, The CW [Network] and WB (Warner Brothers), I think that was their way of handling it. I think we know better now. It’s not OK to treat your talent that way; to let them go through abuse and harassment.’”

The actress also said, “‘there were no support systems’” all those years ago. “‘It was just free range to get abused every single day,’” Patton lamented of her experience with online trolling.

“‘There were no social media protocols in place to protect me, they just let all that stuff sit there,’” 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, but you’ve put me in the ocean alone around sharks.”

Finally, “The Flash” star urged studios to offer extra protection to black actors and other minorities. 

“‘I think any time you hire anyone who is a minority of any kind you have to be prepared to protect them,’” Patton told the podcast. “‘Because in the real world, we are not protected. Just because you put us on a fancy Hollywood TV set or film set, with the hair and makeup and you assume we’re safe, we are not safe.’”

“It’s like if I get pulled over at 2 a.m. in Jackson, Mississippi, by a white cop. Do you think he gives a sh** that I’m Candice Patton from ‘The Flash?’ It doesn’t matter,” she said. 

“‘We still need protection because the world sees us in a certain way. When I step onto set and everyone working around me is white, I’m not protected and I will never be protected. And that’s not to say everyone has bad intentions, but they have blind spots and that can also contribute to my harm. It’s been a learning experience I’m sure for companies and corporations and productions.’”

While Patton said quitting was a real consideration, she eventually decided to stay.

“‘It was such an iconic casting, such an iconic role, and I knew how much this meant to so many people that I felt a responsibility to stay in a space and a place that was probably very toxic for my mental health,’” she said. “‘In staying, in going through a lot of that adversity, I’ve learned so much. I’m so much tougher.’”

The actress also mentioned that she gets less backlash nowadays, and everything is “‘more leveled out now.’”