It’s been a long time coming but The Simpsons is finally fixing it’s diversity problem by finally recasting its white voice actors for its non-white characters, such as Apu. While OG Apu voice actor Hank Azaria is all for the change, Harry Shearer, a long-time Simpsons veteran white voice actor who voices non-white characters like Lou, Bumblebee Man, Dr Hibbert and Judge Snyder, isn’t a fan of this decision and shared some pretty unpopular opinions about race on the long-running animated show.
Speaking of race and white voice actors on ‘The Simpsons’, the GOAT team talk about how the Emmys are improving on the diversity front on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Chatting about the changes coming to The Simpsons to Times Radio, Harry Shearer disagreed that white voice actors shouldn’t be allowed to voice characters of a different race, saying “the job of the actor is to play someone who they are not.”
While Shearer doesn’t outright say “I disagree with The Simpsons‘ mandate to no longer have white voice actors vice non-white characters,” the subtext is pretty clear and he alludes to it by talking about “conflation” between race representation and “performance.”
“I think there’s a conflation between representation, which is important — people from all backgrounds should be represented in the writing and producing ends of the business so they help decide what stories to tell and with what knowledge — and performance.”
It’s pretty disappointing to hear a long-time Simpsons voice actor go against the show’s mandate on trying to improve diversity and representation behind the scenes. This sort of “I’m an actor” opinion is exactly the reason why representation is so hard to achieve because these sorts of people keep brushing over it like it’s no big deal.
Then again, this is a hot take coming from a 76-year-old white man who earns $300K per episode doing voices on an animated show for several decades and has threatened to quit because he didn’t get paid enough, so we probably shouldn’t be surprised that he holds these outdated views and is trying to fight against the fact that he’s outgrown his once-safe cushy job.
One thing’s for sure, Dr Hibbert deserves a better voice actor on The Simpsons than Harry Shearer after all this.
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