The policy which was announced on Friday said that it would not have white actors voice non-white characters. This would leave a blank slate for the voices of popular black characters in the show, Carlton Carlson and Dr. Julius M. Hibbert.
On the show, Hank Azaria had been voicing Carlton Carlson and previously also voiced Apu, a character that came under scrutiny for portraying a biased depiction of the Indian immigrant. In January he announced that he would no longer voice Apu but now it remains to be seen who will replace him for the former’s voice.
Harry Shearer who voices one of the many characters in the show is also the voice of Dr. Julius M. Hibbert, a black character. Although Fox Productions did not elaborate or give details regarding future steps this decision is a long time coming.
In fact several shows have also made announcements to change either the actors who play the characters for example Mike Henry declared that he’d no longer play the black Cleveland Brown character in ‘Family Guy’. Two white actresses, Jenny Slate who played a biracial character in Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth’ and Kristen Bell who plays one in Apple TV+’s ‘Central Park’ have also stepped down from their roles to give space to PoC to voice the roles authentically.
This move comes in the wake of the growing BLM Movement for racial equality and justice over the killings of several Black Americans in the U.S. It has made the pop culture and entertainment industry re-evaluate their stands and take measures that reflect the socio-political events of the time.