There are levels to the rudeness in this response, and despite McGowan's belief that she's not being racist, she is. First, both McGowan and Combs talk down to Jeffery as if she's a child who's spoken against her betters, rather than a grown woman responding to their disrespect of her and her cast's work. Combs is quick to call ageism when Charmed appeared with three younger stars, but both she and McGowan are pulling the same bit with Jeffery and treating her like she's not their peer. Newsflash, she absolutely is. They're all actresses with work under their belt, and just because two of them are older doesn't mean they have any authority to speak to Jeffery with such flippancy. That includes treating her like she's dumb.
Second, the narrative that the newer Charmed is "profiting" off the "hard work" of the previous iteration without adding anything "innovative" to it is where the racism comes in! The 2018 Charmed is all about diverse representation and what magic means when used by witches of color in the LGBTQ+ community, dealing with mental health, parental abandonment, and a score of other complex struggles. That's practically a foreign concept to primetime TV, especially when compared to a show from 1998.
The show introduces different kinds of magic from various cultures, and it addresses facets of identity that McGowan and Combs's Charmed could never. It's for a new generation of viewers who are looking to relate to these characters. It's for women who never thought they'd see someone like them, someone different, have a place in such a huge fandom. It's for people to discover that there isn't just one face to this kind of world and that there are so many different traditions, cultures, and ways to explore it. It's a new story. To say that the sequel refuses to "elevate" means that McGowan doesn't see the stories of Mel (Melonie Diaz), Macy (Madeleine Mantock), and Maggie (Jeffery) as important, needed, or having value. That isn't me reading too much into her comments, it's what she wrote.
-- Mekishana Pierre, "Holly Marie Combs and Rose McGowan Picked a Charmed Battle They're on the Wrong Side Of" (POP SUGAR).
