UPDATE: Charles Melton has apologized for his “offensive” tweets. “I’m truly sorry for making inconsiderate comments several years ago and apologize to anyone I hurt,” he told Us Weekly in a statement. “What I posted and said was immature, offensive and inappropriate. I am ashamed of how I acted and there is no excuse for that behavior. I’m striving to do better and will use this experience to grow, helping others to understand how these types of statements are completely unacceptable.”
ORIGINAL STORY: Riverdale fans are calling out Charles Melton, 27, for some old body-shaming comments that he allegedly tweeted. The comments have since been deleted and he has made his Twitter page private but, as we know, the internet is forever and many fans believe they have receipts in the form of screen grabs. In the series of comments the actor, who plays Reggie Mantle, appears to joke about overweight children and makes gross comments about women’s bodies. In the deleted tweets from his verified account, “fat chicks” are called out for “wearing yoga pants.” The disgusting tweet reads, “Fat chicks need to understand that wearing yoga pants is a privilege, not a right.” Hmm, OK.
It gets worse. Another tweet says, “Don’t tease fat kids, they already have enough on their plates…” Yet another tweet reads, “I find it hilarious when fat people say they need to start eating right. When they have already mastered the art of chewing and swallowing.” One tweet even has the hash tag “#getYourChunkyA**OnTheTreadmillThen.” The series of posts were mostly written in 2011 and 2012, before Charles found fame, but fans are not letting him off the hook and are slamming him on social media.
One person wrote, “Those ugly Charles Melton tweets are from 2012 he would’ve been 21 WOW a whole adult [and] still being that much of a d*** we’ve unstanned bye.” An incredibly hurt fan wrote, “Charles Melton disgusts me. I’ve struggled with my body my whole life, and never feeling comfortable with my weight. And just seeing someone I used to support say such awful things so carelessly, not only makes me furious but it makes me feel even more self conscious.”
https://twitter.com/lovepetsch/status/1008394207759912961
Charles Melton disgusts me. I’ve struggled with my body my whole life, and never feeling comfortable with my weight. and just seeing someone I used to support say such awful things so carelessly, not only makes me furious but it makes me feel even more self conscious.
— mia (@archiebettss) June 18, 2018
So far Charles has yet to address the tweets and, given that Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things recently left Twitter after she was wrongly accused of being homophobic, we ought to give him a chance to defend himself. But, until he does, in the meantime it seems like he has lost of an army of fans.