‘The Simpsons’ will no longer use White actors to voice non-White characters.
“Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters,” Fox spokesman Les Eisner said in a statement recently.
Over the three decades, since the animated sitcom began, it has used White actors to play a number of non-White characters including Harry Shearer as Dr. Julius Hibbert and Hank Azaria as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
In January 2020, Azaria announced he would stop voicing Apu after 30 years playing the thickly accented Indian-American character. Azaria is not South Asian, CNN reported.
“All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore unless there’s some way to transition it or something,” Azaria said, according to /Film, an industry news blog that reported it had asked the actor about the matter after a discussion panel.
The decision to remove Azaria from voicing Apu was mutual, the actor said, according to /Film. “We all agreed on it,” he said. “We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.”
‘Family Guy’ actor Mike Henry has recently decided to step away from the black character of Cleveland Brown after 20 years saying a person of color should have the role.
