Laci Mosley recently reflected on the revolting racist messages she received after she was cast on the “iCarly” revival during a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The actor told the publication in an article published Thursday that racist viewers of the show began attacking her online, unleashing racial slurs after her casting on the Paramount+ revival was announced in the spring.
“I look forward to the point where being Black and getting a job in Hollywood is not a political statement,” Mosley said. “We are talented. We work very hard, a lot of times much harder to get where we are, and we don’t deserve to be punished for that.”
Mosley said that racist viewers of “iCarly” complained that the actor, who plays Harper on the revival, replaced Jennette McCurdy’s character as Carly’s best friend, Sam Puckett.
McCurdy, who is white, played Sam in the original Nickelodeon show, which starred Miranda Cosgrove as Carly Shay. McCurdy said in March that she quit acting a few years ago.
“She’s not a replacement of Sam,” Mosley told the Times. “She’s not a substitution. She’s a completely different person. She’s queer, she’s Black — and not in a stereotypical way.”
Mosley had previously addressed the vitriol in an Instagram post in May.
“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,” she wrote in the post’s caption, in part.
Mosley told the Times that she has received support from the teams at Paramount + and “iCarly” over the racist attacks, particularly from Franchesca Ramsey, who is a writer/producer on the revival.
But the actor noted that, although she has received support, many Black people in Hollywood and beyond face racist attacks without any protection.
“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,” she 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.”
Mosley tweeted more about her experience on Thursday, writing that she hopes to “shift the narrative” away from herself and onto ways systemic racism affects communities overall.
“I really appreciate all the love and support [and] I pray I have shifted the narrative away from me and back to the system that has been failing me and people of color,” she wrote. “Hollywood, I hope this is an example of how it can be better.”