In the “Simpsons”, the white actors will no longer double the colored characters

Springfield Revolution: Producers of Simpsons, a world famous animated series, announced on Friday June 26 that they would no longer hire white actors to outplay characters belonging to ethnic minorities.

“We are moving forward. The Simpsons will no longer have white actors to ensure the voice of non-white characters “, Fox studios said in a statement.

The announcement notably concerns a recurring character in the series launched in 1989, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a grocer of Indian origin who owed his voice in American version to actor Hank Azaria. In January, the white comedian had announced that by mutual agreement with the production he was abandoning this character, who had also been accused for a long time of conveying racist stereotypes.

The change should also concern the character of Doctor Hibbert, a black man voiced by the white comedian Harry Shearer, who also lends his voice to many other characters in the series (Mr. Burns – the boss of Homer Simpson -, his neighbor Ned Flanders, the main Skinner…)

Similar decision for a “Griffin” white actor

Mike Henry, white actor who plays the black character of Cleveland Brown in Griffins (Family Guy, in original version), another series produced by Fox, for its part announced on Twitter “Renounced this role”.

“It was an honor to play Cleveland in Family Guy for twenty years. I like this character, but people of color should play the characters of color ”, he explains.

These announcements come after similar decisions by Netflix (Big Mouth) or Apple TV + (Central Park), while American society is examining its racist past and the discriminations that undermine it, after the death of George Floyd, in his forties, smothered by a white police officer during his arrest.

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