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Producers of The Simpsons have announced that they will no longer be using white actors to voice people of colour on the show.
“Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters,” the producers said in a short statement.
This week has seen a number of white actors stepping down from animated roles in which they play those of a different race.
Earlier this week white actor Jenny Slate announced that she would no longer be playing biracial character Missy in the Netflix series Big Mouth. Shortly afterwards, Kristen Bell left her role as a mixed race character on new Apple TV+ animated show Central Park.
Yesterday, actor Mike Henry announced that he will no longer be voicing black character Cleveland on Family Guy.
“I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role,” he said on Twitter.
The Simpsons has previously come under fire for its use of white actors to play people of colour, particularly Hank Azaria’s depiction of Indian-American character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
He was the subject of a 2017 documentary by comedian Hari Kondabolu, who argued that the character is an offensive stereotype to people of Indian descent. Azaria quit the role in January this year.
Meanwhile, the creator of animated series BoJack Horseman Raphael Bob-Waksberg recently responded to resurfaced concerns of whitewashing on the show. White actor Alison Brie portrayed Vietnamese-American character Diane Nguyen on the series.
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