Family Guy voice actor Mike Henry has stepped down from his role of voicing the black character “Cleveland Brown” after over 20 years. What’s the reasoning behind Henry’s decision? He says that “persons of color” should voice “characters of color” and since he’s white, he is incompatible with the job. His decision comes after a flurry of similar decisions from other cartoon voice actors.
From A Pebble To A Boulder Snowball
The Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria stepped down from his iconic role of voicing “Apu” for similar reasons Mike Henry and others have given. With Apu, however, there is a little more complicated situation. There is a small contingency of people who think that the depiction of Apu is racist. He is an Indian immigrant to America running a corner store. He has a typical accent, his wife has a Bindi (forehead dot) and they sometimes dress in traditional clothing. Since Azaria is white, then he is often labeled as racist by proxy.
A little-known show on Netflix called “Big Mouth” (is this an ad?) has also had a voice actor step down from voicing a character. This case is a little peculiar because while the voice actor is white, the character is biracial black and white. The voice actor, Jenny Slate, says that a person of color should voice the role. But how does that make sense if the character is half white and half black? Shouldn’t either race have the opportunity to voice the character since the character is equal parts of both races?
Please Don’t Call My Board Members Racist!
In the never-ending quest to virtue-signal and protect reputations against allegations of racism, the United States is beginning to go in the opposite direction. Once, we were a country of laws that specifically prevented people of certain races from doing certain things. Not just “people of color” but also whites.
Segregation, at one point, was law and nobody was to violate it. Over a period of years… through blood, sweat, and tears… the stain of segregation and racially-based laws faded away. Now, in 2020, it seems like society would like to voluntarily revert back to a time of race-based rules and regulations. Even without those specific laws on the books, people are creating their own set of laws and abiding by them. There are even penalties for not abiding by these unwritten rules. “Cancel culture” is the judge, jury, and executioner.
Rules For Radicals
Will any so-called “person of color” be able to voice a white character anymore? James Avery, best known for his role as “Uncle Phil” on the Fresh Prince, voiced “Shredder” in the Ninja Turtles Cartoons. David Joyner is black and voiced “Barney” for ten years. What will the unofficial (or official) rules be going forward for voice actors? Must every voice actor fit the race of the character they are voicing? What about non-humans like dogs, chickens, bananas, aliens, or some other non-existent being?
All of this is happening in the name of Black Lives Matter, hands up don’t shoot, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and whatever another random name the liberal establishment wants to pull out of a top hat like a cheap carnie trick. None of the virtue signalings in the world will fix any issues of “police brutality” or “generational wealth inequality.” Advertisers and megastudios are simply working together to protect their interests, as are the voice actors themselves.
SOURCES:
The Insidious Racism of White Actors Like Kristen Bell and Jenny Slate Voicing Black Animated Characters
Simpsons actor Hank Azaria says he’ll no longer voice Apu: ‘We all agreed on it’ | Television & radio | The Guardian
‘Family Guy’ voice actor Mike Henry says he is ‘stepping down’ from Cleveland Brown role on animated series | Fox News
Jenny Slate Will No Longer Voice Missy on Big Mouth: ‘Black Characters on an Animated Show Should be Played by Black People’ | TV Guide
Uncle Phil From ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ Was Shredder
What It’s Like To Play Barney For 10 Years – YouTube
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