In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, two animated series are making changes to those playing the voices of some of its key characters.
First up, “Big Mouth” co-creator Nick Kroll announces that one of the animated series’ main characters, Missy, will no longer be voiced by Jenny Slate moving forward. The change was made at the request of Slate who decided that the bi-racial character should be voiced by a black actor.
Kroll remarked: “We sincerely apologize for and regret our original decision to cast a white actor to voice a biracial character. We made a mistake, took our privilege for granted, and we’re working hard to do better moving forward.”
The series was picked up for seasons four, five and six by Netflix almost a year ago and the show has been constantly lauded by critics. John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, Thandie Newton, Jordan Peele, Jessi Klein, Fred Armisen, Andrew Rannells and Jason Mantzoukas all voice roles in the series.
That’s not the only similar change made today. Kristen Bell will no longer voice the mixed-race central character of Molly Tillerman in the forthcoming Apple animated series “Central Park”. The decision to re-cast the role was announced via a lengthy statement from the show’s creative team.
Bell also released her own statement, saying that her voicing the character “shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege. Casting a mixed race character w/a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race & Black American experience.”
The series is currently five episodes into its first season run. It voice cast also includes Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Daveed Diggs and Stanley Tucci.
