Another white voice actor “Simpsons” gave up his loans to a black character.
According to The Wrap, Harry Shearer, who is white, will no longer express the black character Dr. Hibbert. He will be replaced by Kevin Michael Richardson (“Bless the Harts”) in next Sunday’s episode, “Wad Goals”.
Shearer has been Springfield’s most skilled doctor – unlike Hank Azaria’s incompetent Dr. Nick – since 1990. He also features Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner, among other characters, and Fox has confirmed for The Post. that it will continue to express the other roles as well.
He joins Azaria, who last year announced that he would no longer express the Indian character Apu – partly after a 2017 documentary, “The Problem with Apu”, brought attention to the subject. Azaria also expresses a wide range of characters in the show, such as Moe and Chief Wiggum.
“The Simpsons” is far from the only animated series that has addressed this topic in recent months.
After the rebirth of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, the actor “Family Guy” Mike Henry, who is white, announced that he is giving up the voice of the black character Cleveland. Arif Zahir has since taken over this role.
In Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” Jenny Slate gave up Missy – Ayo Edebiri has since taken over – and the Apple TV + series “Central Park” cast the bi-racial character Molly, who was originally voiced by Kristen Bell. and is now performed by “Umbrella Academy” star Emmy Raver-Lampman.
“The Simpsons” is currently in season 32, airing on Fox on Sunday at 8 p.m.