Raven-Symoné is getting candid about her time on Disney Channel. Extra particularly, she’s opening up concerning the alleged favoritism the community enacted when it got here to her fan-favorite present “That’s So Raven” and its competitor “Hannah Montana.”
For context, Raven’s present first got here on the air again in 2003 and rapidly grew to become successful. The present was categorized as the best rated authentic program in Disney Channel’s historical past at time and went on to be the primary time an authentic Disney Channel sequence would exceed three seasons and attain 100 episodes—the quantity wanted for the coveted syndication standing.
Miley’s “Hannah Montana” would later be a part of the Disney fold in 2006, only one yr earlier than “TSR” went off the air. It, too, was successful and constructed upon the huge success the community had with Raven’s present.
Nonetheless, in trying again within the distinction of therapy betwene how Disney propped up and positioned her present versus Miley’s, Raven mentioned they dropped the ball when it got here to build up her model.
“I used to be well-known at 3 years previous, and I had been on a number of tv exhibits earlier than I acquired on ‘That’s So Raven.’ Disney knew it but additionally didn’t play that as much as construct the model of ‘That’s So Raven,’” she mentioned in a latest interview with Jason Lee. “So when different girls got here to the community to then use that platform and push it ahead, I used to be already sitting in my ego.”
She went on to say that whereas she was already older than Miley by the point she made her Disney Channel debut and was anxious about different issues (like her costar Orlando Brown, extra on that later)—she chalked up “Hannah Montana’s” meteoric rise to Miley being “skinny” and “white” and her reaping the rewards of the inspiration that her present constructed.
“I used to be 18 on the set, coping with Orlando [Brown, her costar]. So I had much more issues to fret about than Miley Cyrus. Was there, in my mind, a ‘WTF’ on what, why, and the way that is going quicker than what I went via? Clearly,” Raven defined. “However then at the moment, you chalk it as much as skinny, white, and the inspiration was already constructed.”
Afterward in that very same interview, Raven took the time to handle Orlando and his antics however selected to maintain it cute and finally took the excessive rode. Explaining how she needed to watch out with what she mentioned, Raven praised him for being a “comedic genius” however finally shared that no matter off the wall issues he’s mentioned—it doesn’t part her.
“I do know his household, I do know him. I knew him earlier than medication, after medication. Throughout God, not throughout God. And he was a comedic genius and he’s nonetheless making individuals snort—at different’s bills,” she mentioned.
She concluded partly: “Im safe sufficient in my checking account and in my life that I don’t should dig that deep all the way down to take it. And I additionally don’t should defend myself about something as a result of that’s his expertise.”