10 TV Storylines Actors REFUSED To Do
5. Raven Comes Out - Raven's Home
That's So Raven spin-off series Raven's Home of course brought Raven-Symoné back to portray protagonist Raven Baxter, but before the first season began filming, Disney proposed a change in Raven's character which she wasn't too thrilled with.
Raven-Symoné, who is gay in real life, said that Disney wanted to make her character also gay in the revival, something the actress was firmly against and ultimately vetoed.
The reasons for this are complex, with Raven-Symoné evidently being wary of the Raven character being conflated with who she is as a human being. She said:
"The reason I said no wasn't because I wasn't proud of who I was, or I didn't want to represent the LGBTQ+ community in any way... It was because Raven Baxter is Raven Baxter is Raven Baxter. And Raven Baxter is a character that I was proud to play, even if she is straight, cisgender - I don't mind - let her have her moment... If you ever see me in another character, you see Raven Baxter, and that's just what the deal is... And I think the one thing that differentiates me from her is now a lot more."
That's... totally fair enough. Much as it would've been easy for the actress to use this opportunity to bring some strong LGBTQ+ representation to a popular brand, it was personally important for her to draw a delineated line between Raven the character and Raven the real-life person.