Riverdale star Lili Reinhart under fire for 'racially insensitive' Halloween costume: 'I apologise'

Betty's idea of a devilish costume for Halloween seems to have backfired. Over the weekend, Riverdale actress Lili Reinhart – who brings comic book character Betty to life on the CW show – shared a snap of a woman donning a black body suit and black body paint on Twitter, declaring that she has "finally found my Halloween costume".

"Inspired by the colour of my soul," the 21-year-old actress added alongside the photo of the pretend demoness. But little did Reinhart realise that her seemingly innocent picture would trigger a bout of criticism from her social media followers.

Not only was the Miss Stevens actress accused of being "insensitive" and "offensive" but some others also slammed her for trying to "do blackface". Amid the criticism, however, many fans even sided with Reinhart, dismissing the claims of insensitivity.

"Well she's a better person than me. I wouldn't have apologised for liking a demonic halloween costume. The ignorance floating around is astounding. It is not blackface. Good grief," a Twitter user shared.

Another wrote, "It's not racially insensitive, people are over sensitive. Someone clearly took what she meant out of context."

Nevertheless, the controversial tweet in question has since been deleted from the site and the CW star has issued an apology for what she described as being "racially insensitive".

In a series of tweets, Reinhart explained, "I did not mean for my tweet to come off that way. I can see how it was interpreted as being insensitive, completely. I saw the pic on a Halloween Instagram and didn't think it would be interpreted as being racially insensitive."

"I apologise. Never meant any harm. I can see how it could've been misinterpreted," she added.