Y&R Fans Want Victoria Rowell Back as Drucilla Winters

Since Victoria Rowell's departure from Y&R, the African American storyline has deteriorated. Unrealistic interactions have replaced authentic family relationships.

In 1990, Victoria Rowell was cast as street urchin-turned-fashion model Drucilla Barber. Rowell became a fan favorite and was nominated for three Daytime Emmy awards in 1996, 1997 and 1998. She won 11 NAACP Image Awards for her portrayal of Drucilla. Rowell's first run as Drucilla was from 1990 to 1998. She briefly returned in 2000, then returned on a regular basis from 2002 until early 2007.

Rowell's departure from Y&R in April 2007 generated media coverage and controversy. Rowell indicated that she felt the African-American presence on the show was fading.

Sony Pictures Television, which produces Y&R, ordered then-headwriter Lynn Marie Latham to kill off Drucilla Barber Winters to prevent the character - and actress - from migrating to CBS Daytime sister show The Bold and the Beautiful, as other departing actresses such as Eileen Davidson had been allowed to do (B&B is produced by Bell Dramatic Serials, as well).

We, the undersigned, truly miss Victoria Rowell's talent, as well as her input into authentic African American families. As the fan base of Y&R, we respectfully request that you resurrect Drucilla (played by Victoria Rowell) and that you use this important opportunity to present your Y&R fan base with an upwardly mobile African American family who are executives in business, titans of the fashion industry, and live their lives in an authentic way. Making the Winters family a force in Genoa City, as are the Newmans and the Abbotts, is LONG overdue.