• KJ Apa reacted to fans who have criticized him for staying silent about the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.
  • “I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests,” the actor wrote in response to a tweet from comedian Elijah Daniel.
  • Fans urged the “Riverdale” star, who has millions of followers online, to use his platform to share information regarding donating, protesting, and other ways to help.
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“Riverdale” star KJ Apa responded after being called out for his lack of social media posts about the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I don’t need to post about my opinions and beliefs in order for them to be real to me. I support black lives – but I don’t feel it’s necessary to prove to people I do by posting my attendance at these protests,” the 22-year-old actor wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Apa's comments were prompted by a tweet from comedian Elijah Daniel, who called out the actor for starring in a 2018 film adaptation of Angie Thomas' novel "The Hate U Give" (which addresses police brutality and racism) but remaining "silent" about current events.

Daniel wrote, "if KJ was the co-star of that movie why is he so silent? he has such a massive young audience and got paid to be in a movie about police brutality and ... posted a black square?"

He later responded to Apa and said: "I didn't say you needed to prove anything, this was a question about you not using your extremely large platform after being paid to be in a film about police brutality."

The aforementioned black square was a reference to the image Apa posted on his Instagram on June 2 to mark Blackout Tuesday, a social media action meant to show solidarity amid the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality protests across the US.

Aside from the Blackout Tuesday post, Apa hasn't shared resources with fans regarding Black Lives Matter.

Fans argued that the New Zealand native, who has 18.3 million followers on Instagram and 2.1 million followers on Twitter, should use his platform to be more proactive by sharing information regarding donating, protesting, and other ways to help.

Apa's followers urged him to speak out not to "prove" that he's a supporter, but to amplify the movement. They also said that "staying silent is a part of the problem."

Other fans said that Apa shouldn't feel obligated to post about BLM in order to show solidarity.

"@kj_apa is not obligated to post on social media if he doesn't want to. He could be going to protests, donating and doing so much more OFFLINE. Why is everyone so quick to assume?" Twitter user @HiramTrash wrote.

Apa's recent posts on social media have mainly shown him playing guitar or sharing footage of nature.

http://instagr.am/p/CBPXeWfFBRu

However, Twitter user @afwassel said that they saw Apa and "Riverdale" costar Charles Melton at a protest in Missoula, Montana, on Sunday. Apa was also seen posing with fans in Missoula in a photo shared online.

"Today at the #Missoula #BLM protest, I was next to @kj_apa. It was sorta surreal to be protesting next to Archie. Life is f---ing wild," the person wrote.

Apa appears to be traveling with Melton and "Riverdale" alum Rob Raco. Apa's social media silence regarding BLM contrasted the actions of his "Riverdale" costars.

Cole Sprouse recently said that he was arrested during a BLM demonstration in Santa Monica, California. Days later, he was photographed at a protest with costar Madelaine Petsch, model Kaia Gerber, and actors Eiza Gonzalez and Margaret Qualley.

Petsch and costar Camila Mendes also appeared to be at the same protest together on June 3.

Lili Reinhart posted about protests and has been using her Instagram account to host livestreams and amplify Black voices.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Morgan has spoken about Black representation in the media and "being used as sidekick non-dimensional characters to our white leads."

Morgan said that she's "the only black series regular but also paid the least" on "Riverdale" and said she was "used as the token biracial bisexual." Her comments were met with support from costars Reinhart, Ashleigh Murray, and Asha Bromfield, who slammed the show's treatment of the Pussycats.

The actress later said that she'll be supporting Black designers going forward and made it clear that she'll be more selective about the roles she takes and will "fight" for her Black fans.