Riverdale actor criticised for 'fat shaming'

An actor on the Netflix teen drama show Riverdale is being criticised after people online discovered offensive tweets he penned about overweight people.

A number of horrible fat-shaming tweets from 2012 were discovered on Charles Melton’s Twitter account.

Melton has played Reggie Mantle on the hit show since 2016, and has also appeared previously on American Horror Story and Glee.

The tweets make fun of overweight girls at the gym, and those that wear ‘yoga pants’.

People are annoyed.

Not everyone was critical. Others argued that it happened six years ago - people change...

Though at the time he was, at the age of 21, an adult...

Soon after the discovery of the tweet and subsequent backlash, Melton made his Twitter private.

Melton later released a statement to ET apologising for what he wrote:

I’m truly sorry for making inconsiderate comments several years ago and apologise to anyone I hurt.

What I posted and said was immature, offensive and inappropriate.

I am ashamed of how I acted and there is no excuse for that. 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.

His co-star, Camila Mendes told Access Hollywood that he had called her to apologise.

Charles called me personally to apologise. He was devastated. He felt really sorry about it and he called me personally and you know he said ‘with everything that I stand for, I’m really sorry.

And I know Charles, I know he’s not actually a bad person and I think it’s a matter of sometimes you tweet things forever ago and they’re buried in there and they come out and it sucks and I do not agree with anything he said or support those statements but I know that that’s not who he is.

More: There are four types of drinker – which are you?

More: Introverts have this underappreciated strength, according to science