Every single time the Riverdale cast have alluded to absolutely hating Riverdale

I mean, fair

4 years ago | UPDATED 2 years ago

We all hate Riverdale, even just a little bit. It’s badly written, poorly acted, and cringe as fuck. I can’t even blame the actors for the poor acting anymore, to be honest. There’s no way any actor, even a Hollywood great, would be able to deliver the line “Don’t you get it Betty, I’m weird. I’m a weirdo” while simultaneously wearing a grey crown beanie and do it with conviction. The whole show has just become so lame it’s starting to eat itself, and no one knows that more than its cast.

Much like Robert Pattinson and his total, utter, unadulterated disdain for the Twilight saga – the Riverdale cast lowkey hate Riverdale. There have been subtle (and very much unsubtle) hints from multiple cast members, but just so you know they’re real people who hate delivering those cheesy lines as much as you hate hearing them, here’s a rundown.

When Cole Sprouse implied that the acting on Riverdale is bad

Cole appeared on a Zoom version of The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and set his Zoom background to a picture of Jimmy alone in his own audience. They made a joke about him looking like a waxwork, and Jimmy said “have you been to any waxwork museums recently”, to which Cole responded with a veiled remark about the acting on Riverdale. He said: “Besides the set of Riverdale? No.”

It’s pretty obvious that the comment was about the acting on Riverdale, but the shade didn’t stop there:

Then he absolutely SENT for Casey Cott on Twitter

In the interview, Cole can be seen sporting a very… interesting… show of facial hair. His costar Casey Cott (who plays Kevin) made a jibe about his goatee, to which Cole responded on Twitter: “That hairy chin said more words in that interview than you did in the last 4 seasons.” YIKES. Even if this was, and forgive me for the term, “banter”, it was pretty Dior Suavage if you ask me.

(Savage).

Oh, and he admitted that he hated the ‘I’m a weirdo’ scene

The scene I referenced earlier where Jughead goes on a rant about being a “weirdo” and not fitting in is easily one of the best examples of Riverdale’s shoddy writing, which is cringey at best and downright unbelievable at other times. Turns out it wasn’t just painful for the viewers – Cole Sprouse didn’t rate it either. In an interview with Buzzfeed he said: “Jughead definitely has his cringe-boy moments. Juggy deserves the flack. Glad that scene resonated with the audience the same way it resonated with me as the actor reading those lines.” So at least he can recognise its bad. Shame he can’t recognise that referring to Jughead as “Juggy” is equally is bad, but we take what we can.

AND he’s said that he doesn’t ship Bughead

Cole Sprouse has previously confessed in interviews that he doesn’t ship his own couple on the show, and this was wellll before him and Lili broke up. He also divulged that he HATES being asked in interviews whether he’s more of a “Betty or Veronica” guy, which is fair – sexism and all that – but that is kinda the whole premise of Archie Comics? Don’t hate the interviewer, hate the game, Cole.

Two actresses openly called out the show for poor representation of black women

Vanessa Morgan and Bernadette Beck have both come forward in recent months to criticise their treatment and characterisation on Riverdale.

In May, Vanessa Morgan, who plays Toni on the show, tweeted: “Tired of how black people are portrayed in media, tired of us being portrayed as thugs, dangerous or angry scary people. Tired of us also being used as sidekick non-dimensional characters to our white leads. Or only used in the ads for diversity but not actually in the show. It starts with the media. I’m not being quiet anymore.”

She went on to say that she was the “only black series regular but paid the least”. Riverdale creators have since avowed to address and deal with Vanessa’s concerns – but a second Riverdale actress has since come forward and echoed her sentiments.

Bernadette Beck, who plays the character of Peaches N’ Cream, told Elle.com: “I was, for no reason, depicted in a very negative, unattractive light. And I’m not the first Black actress to show up on set, stand there, chew gum, and look sassy and mean. I feel like I was just there to fulfill a diversity quota. It’s just to fulfill points. I was made out to be a very unlikeable character and therefore, an unlikeable person in people’s eyes.” Beck also noted that this characterisation translated to real life, where she has been regularly subjected to hate comments and death threats from fans who can’t tell fact from fiction. And she’s not the only one who’s shared some grievances with the Riverdale fan base…

Lili Reinhart HATES Riverdale stans

It’s no secret that Riverdale stans are fucking mental. Like, bordering on unhinged. This isn’t me being harsh – they have done some really awful things in the past and genuinely can’t seem to grasp that the Riverdale actors are not their characters. No one has been subjected to the wrath of the fans more than Lili Reinhart, who’s in the firing line for pretty much everything. They cast aspersions on her relationship status (more on that coming later), call her a queerbaiter and homophobe for not shipping Betty and Veronica, and obsess over every detail of her personal life.

Once, in a particularly bad showing from Riverdale fans, they sent Shannon Purser (Ethel on Riverdale and the late Barb on Stranger Things) fat-shaming comments and threats after her character kissed Cole’s character in one episode, in defence of Lili (she and Cole were still dating at this point). Lili tweeted in response: “Shannon is my friend, and it is embarrassing that people felt the need to attack her personally for something that happened on a SHOW. Written by WRITERS. You are not a fan of mine if you treat my friend like this.”

And she’s gotten angrier than that – with fair reason, too. After a particular tough period, with constant commentary on her and Cole’s relationship and her role on Riverdale, she called the RD fan Twitter community “a cesspool for evil 15-year-olds who don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t have anything better to do.”

That time KJ Apa and Lili Reinhart made fun of Riverdale fans

As aforementioned, Lili is subjected to a LOT of questioning when it comes to her and Cole’s relationship. When they were still together there was endless speculation on their relationship status – first, it was “are they together?” then “did they break up?” then “did Cole cheat?” then “did they break up?” again. It was constant. At one point KJ Apa and Lili Reinhart referenced the minutiae that Riverdale fans would obsess over in an Instagram comment interaction, and honestly, it’s jokes.

Camila Mendes implied that she dislikes playing her high school role

In an Instagram story and interviews, Camila expressed delight to finally be playing a role that isn’t that of a high school student. In the 25-year-old’s latest film, Dangerous Lies, she plays an actual adult who is married and hasn’t exactly been subtle with her excitement over playing a more mature role. She said in an interview: “What’s nice about that is I’m playing an adult—a young, married woman—and not someone in high school.” She also went on to say in the same interview that she wants to star in more dynamic, prestigious roles.

One actor straight up said that Riverdale made him ‘look like an ass’

He means the quality of writing made him look like an ass because it makes him seem like a bad actor. They didn’t physically… make him look… like – anyway. Sam Witwer, who played a teacher called Mr Witting that jumped out of the window to his demise in one Riverdale episode, called out the showrunners for their poor writing in an interview with Gizmodo. He said: “As for why that character jumps out a window, I have no idea. But I read the script and laughed. I was like, ‘Right, of course. Of course, he does. I’d love to say I had deep thoughts about the whole thing, but I don’t think that’s really the way they work over there.”

He continued: “Riverdale calls me up and goes, ‘We want you to be on the show. We really need you to say yes and fly out tomorrow. Can you do us this favor?’ And I’m like, ‘…OK.’ That was the last communication I had with them. Any questions I had went, I’m sorry, sadly unanswered. I was a little bit relieved when I saw my character jumping out the window. I don’t have to wonder anymore whether I’m being made to look like ass because I can’t — maybe I’m just not a good enough actor, but I can’t do my job if I don’t know what’s going on.” YIKES.

Basically, the stinking hot mess of crazed Riverdale fans and poor showrunning has made the series completely unbearable to watch and apparently to star in, too. The cast are grateful for it granting them their fame, don’t get me wrong – they laud the reception and size of the show a lot, but it seems they’re as Mentally Fucking Done with it as I am after a ten minute sitting.