Laci Mosley, who’s set to play one of the new characters in the Paramount+ revival of iCarly, has received racist abuse in response to her casting.
“I’ve been deleting and blocking people but I can’t be bothered anymore,” Mosley wrote on her Instagram Story per NBC News, highlighting the racist comments directed at her. “Stay mad. I felt silly being upset by racism cause it’s just how this terrible planet is but sometimes it still catches me off guard.”
Last week, it was revealed that the new 13-episode season of iCarly will premiere on June 17, and the news arrived with a picture of the cast together. Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress, and Jerry Trainor all reprise their roles from the original series, while Mosley and Jaidyn Triplett are joining the cast as new characters.
Mosley first started to highlight some of the racism she was facing in response to her casting over the weekend. “My sister telling me that she saw several videos about me on TikTok being racist as fuck broke my heart,” she wrote. “Me and my sister are 13 years apart. She’s like my child and her having to see this shit broke me. I don’t know what’s wrong with you people but you need to seek help.” She said that “y’all can’t break me,” despite all of the abuse.
“I’ve been through too much. But fuck you weirdos, being a Black woman is so hard but so lit I’m gonna go harder and you’ll be mad forever,” she added. In a follow-up message shared on Monday, Mosley made sure to point out that she is not “replacing” Jennette McCurdy’s character Sam Puckett, adding that she hasn’t met with McCurdy, but she knows “she’s extremely talented.” Writer Franchesca Ramsey, who worked on the upcoming revival, echoed those sentiments on Twitter.
In wake of the racist responses to the reboot, the official iCarly Instagram account shared a statement, which Cosgrove shared to her Instagram Story. “Our company is proud to uphold the values of inclusivity and collaboration, where we work to embrace new and diverse voices, act with care and work together,” the statement reads. “We support our entire cast and crew and stand against all instances of hate and racism.”
iCarly is set to return on June 17 on Paramount+.
