Victoria Rowell Claims Racism, Files Lawsuit Against Young & The Restless Producers
The suit makes Rowell an “advocate for Y&R’s black actors and actresses” whose “attempts to effect change were often rejected or ignored,” that included pleas for them to be more prominently featured in press photos for the show.
She successfully fought hard to have an on-set hairstylist specifically for black actors and actresses – only to learn later the hairstylist was “banned from the Y&R hair and makeup room.”
The suit even takes issue with Y&R failing to notify her before developing a storyline where Rowell’s character went insane in 2007 and was “placed in a strait jacket and dragged to an asylum.” Her character was ultimately written off the show later that year at her request when she fell off a cliff and apparently died. Many fans have questioned if she was really dead and have lobbied for “Drucilla’s” return.
Show execs makes claims that Rowell wasn’t brought back due to creative reasons and have nothing to do with race.
CBS says about the lawsuit, that they are “disappointed to learn that, after leaving the” soap “on her own initiative, Ms. Rowell has attempted to rewrite that history through lawyers’ letters and a lawsuit that has no merit. We harbor no ill will toward Ms. Rowell, but we will vigorously defend this case.”
Rowell took to her Twitter about the suit:
[Page Six, Twitter]