Producers for “The Simpsons” shared the news on Friday (June 26), and Mike Henry vowed to do remove himself from “Family Guy” character Cleveland Brown.
Oh, how times have changed. In the last couple months, we’ve seen some dramatic shifts in Hollywood. The recent protests have inspired the masses to call out celebrities, businesses, and corporations for their practices, particularly pertaining to how they treat Black people and People Color. Actresses Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell announced that they would no longer voice Black animated characters, and later, voice-over actor Mike Henry shared that he planned on stepping back from voicing Cleveland Brown on the hit show Family Guy.
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Following in their footsteps is The Simpsons, a show that has been plagued with controversy over Hank Azaria voicing the controversial Kwik-E-Mart character, Apu. After years criticism over Azaria portraying the Indian character, he announced back in January that he would no longer voice the part.
Producers The Simpsons shared a brief statement about their changes. “Moving forward, ‘The Simpsons’ will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters,” they said. These recent moves by production teams and actors have stirred up discussions about representation in Hollywood, but there are some people who think that these modifications in the entertainment industry are just knee-jerk reactions to the current social climate. Do you think people are being too sensitive?