The hit TV series “Riverdale” is currently shooting its second season in Vancouver, but the drama spilled off the set and into the streets this week when one of its actors got into a confrontation with a busker.
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Several cellphone videos of the incident show Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead in the Archie comics-based series, arguing with the busker on Robson Street, near the Vancouver Art Gallery, Tuesday night.
Sprouse tells the busker, who goes by the name of Babe Coal, that her singing is too loud and interfering with their filming.
“We’re begging you. Our production in there, we can’t film anything,” he tells her, as a crowd of crew members, fans, and onlookers begins to gather.
Coal stands her ground and responds that if she has to stop playing, she wants compensation for the money she will lose for leaving her spot.
“I know you’re asking for compensation,” Sprouse responds. “We’re asking for simply an hour to finish this.”
When Sprouse repeats her request for compensation, Sprouse turns to address the crowd.
“Just in case you don't know how this works,” he tells them, “this is one of the secrets of film production. We give a location to the city and then some scam artists come out and...”
Coal interrupts him on her microphone saying: “Excuse me? Excuse me, I'm going to interrupt you. I play here regularly, every day. I play here every day. So you guys came into where I perform. You can’t call me a scam artist. What you are is cheap,” she says.
Sprouse then turns to walk away, before turning back to say to Coal: “I asked you to stop… for an hour.”
Another video taken by a bystander later shows Sprouse holding one of Coal's CD and then breaking it in half to cheers from the crowd of mostly female fans.
Coal later offered her account of the incident on her Twitter feed, tweeting that when the first crew member approached here, they were polite and she agreed to turn down her volume. But when other crew members arrived a little later, she says they forced her to stop her performance.
They refused to compensate me then escalated and called the police, the police tried to bully me under pressure from the crew
— Babe Coal (@BabeCoal) July 13, 2017
Coal says the crew was rude and that Sprouse “acted like a spoiled brat.”
Cole Sprouse slandered me and acted terribly he should be ashamed. What he and cast did was abusive towards a member of the public.
— Babe Coal (@BabeCoal) July 13, 2017
In most places in Vancouver, buskers need a licence to play. But the space in front of the art gallery is exempt from those bylaws.
Coal insisted on Twitter that the crew’s film permit did not include the space in front of the art gallery and she had a right to be there and broke no laws.
Coal, whose real name is Megan Regehr, has faced multiple citations for busking on Vancouver streets without a licence. She has even taken her fight against the city’s noise bylaws to court.
Eventually, in the Tuesday evening incident, police were called to the scene. No arrests were made.
“We wanted to get her side of the story and spoke to some witnesses as well,” Vancouver Police Const Jason Doucette told CTV Vancouver.
In the end, the “Riverdale” crew was unable to finish filming their scene and plans to try again.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Jon Woodward
