Revolution in the world of animation when several flagship series, including “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy”, announced that the colored characters would no longer be dubbed by white actors!
Change in the world of animation! Echoing the movement Black Lives Matter born after the death of George Floyd following police violence, several animated series announced strong measures to guarantee a better representation of diversity on American television. Thus, the Netflix platform has decided that Jenny Slate who previously provided the voice of the colored heroine of the cartoon Big Mouth would soon be replaced by a black actress. An initiative welcomed by the public, and soon taken up by other television channels.
After Apple announced the departure of actress Kristen Bell from the Central Park series for the same reasons, a first chain of the American network has also decided to apply changes in the voice cast of its animated series . The FOX chain has indeed decided that no more colored characters would be voiced by a white actor, and in particular in its two flagship programs The Simpson and Family Guy (The Griffins).
The decision not to let white actors double up on colored characters in The Simpsons follows on from a previous controversy that saw Hank Azaria decide not to incarnate the character of Indian origin Apu Nahasapeemapetilon after a documentary entitled The Problem With Apu detailed the issues regarding this practice, which is still widely used in the animation world. Our colleagues from Hollywood Reporter We also learn that the comedians Harry Shearer (Dr. Hibbert) and Tress MacNeille (Manjula), known for playing various characters in the show, will also no longer double colored characters in The Simpsons.
In Griffins, the supporting character Cleveland Brown (hero of a four-season spin-off titled The Cleveland Show) has been dubbed since the series began by white actor Mike Henry; the latter announced this weekend his decision to withdraw from the role in favor of a colored actor, a message also shared on Twitter by the creator of the program Seth MacFarlane.
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