“At the time, Raven wasn’t the lead, she was the sidekick.
They were looking for a lead.
I came in to audition for the lead.
Anneliese van der Pol, Orlando Brown, and Raven-Symoné on ‘That’s So Raven’.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
I think the character’s name was Molly.
I auditioned and a couple other people auditioned.
They couldn’t really see a Black girl leading a show.”
Romano pressed van der Pol on the topic, asking, “Not initially?”
to which her guest responded, “Yeah, they saw her as a sidekick.”
Representatives at Disney did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.
“I was like, ‘Cool, I got my own show.’
I think it was kind of a good thing that I didn’t let it go to my head.
It was just about working and wanting to create great content at the time.”
