TV: Mike Henry stepping down as the voice of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy

[LeafsNation75]

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[Perennial]

I thought skin colour didn't matter

 

[Voight]

This is ridiculous.

 

[habamillions]

That is absolutely rediculous

 

[Langdon Alger]

Hank Azaria will not be voicing Lou the cop on the Simpsons anymore either.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Just a friggin joke.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

He plays Consuela too I believe. Is that okay lol? Not to mention the pedophile Herbert.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Someone made a good point about the unintended consequence of all this. Voice actors typically play many different characters in a show, so they will inevitably play a diverse set of characters. If the voice actors have to match the characters, the cost of the shows will increase or they will just have a less diverse group of characters. I'll be curious to see the fallout.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

By this line of thinking Nick Fury in the MCU should be played by a white actor, because the original character was white.

Fury was changed to look like Sam Jackson before the MCU was even formed.

All of the “This is ridiculous” I have to ask... does this have that much of an impact on your life? If it doesn’t why do you care?

 

[Langdon Alger]

All of the “This is ridiculous” I have to ask... does this have that much of an impact on your life? If it doesn’t why do you care?

Because it’s stupid. It’s not like these actors are appearing in blackface. They are voice actors. What’s the difference if a white person does the voice of a black character?

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Because it’s stupid. It’s not like these actors are appearing in blackface. They are voice actors. What’s the difference if a white person does the voice of a black character?

Whats the difference if a production company wants to be more inclusive and hire more people of color?

 

[Langdon Alger]

Whats the difference if a production company wants to be more inclusive and hire more people of color?

Hiring more people of colour is perfectly fine, but I don’t get why an actor who is white voicing a character who is black is suddenly a problem. Henry has been doing the voice of Cleveland for twenty years, and suddenly now it’s a problem? Azaria has been doing the voice of Lou the cop for more than 20 years. Same with Harry Shearer doing the voice of Karl.

I don’t agree that these actors need to step down from voicing these roles, that’s all.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Fury was changed to look like Sam Jackson before the MCU was even formed.

All of the “This is ridiculous” I have to ask... does this have that much of an impact on your life? If it doesn’t why do you care?

Does it have that much impact on the lives of POC? Why would they care? It’s a cartoon character. If it’s not important enough to be bothered by then it’s not important enough to change, IMHO.

All things like this do is generate meaningless annoyance on both sides and pointless discussion about it.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Hiring more people of colour is perfectly fine, but I don’t get why an actor who is white voicing a character who is black is suddenly a problem. Henry has been doing the voice of Cleveland for twenty years, and suddenly now it’s a problem? Azaria has been doing the voice of Lou the cop for more than 20 years. Same with Harry Shearer doing the voice of Karl.

I don’t agree that these actors need to step down from voicing these roles, that’s all.

This was the opposite situation but on Star Wars Rebels they had David Oyelowo who is black, voice the character of Agent Kallus who was white. He obviously didn't care about that and demand they make his character black.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Can the writers and producers and directors and animators of Family Guy step down as well?

 

[Langdon Alger]

Can the writers and producers and directors and animators of Family Guy step down as well?

Not a terrible idea.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Something we can all agree on

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Does it have that much impact on the lives of POC? Why would they care? It’s a cartoon character. If it’s not important enough to be bothered by then it’s not important enough to change, IMHO.

All things like this do is generate meaningless annoyance on both sides and pointless discussion about it.

People will have a jobs that they didn’t have before. I’m guessing that will have an impact on some lives.

 

[OzzyFan]

I wonder where they are going to find a dog to voice Brian.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

Hiring more people of colour is perfectly fine, but I don’t get why an actor who is white voicing a character who is black is suddenly a problem. Henry has been doing the voice of Cleveland for twenty years, and suddenly now it’s a problem? Azaria has been doing the voice of Lou the cop for more than 20 years. Same with Harry Shearer doing the voice of Karl.

I don’t agree that these actors need to step down from voicing these roles, that’s all.

And if they can find POC who fill that voice it doesn’t effect your life at all. It’s a really, really dumb thing to be throwing a fit about.

 

[discostu]

Does it have that much impact on the lives of POC? Why would they care? It’s a cartoon character. If it’s not important enough to be bothered by then it’s not important enough to change, IMHO.

All things like this do is generate meaningless annoyance on both sides and pointless discussion about it.

The primary purpose are

A) Create more opportunities for POC actors given the acknowledgement that this is one of the systemic issues facing actors of color. When roles are limited, and ones you would be considered for go to actors, it's a concern.

B) Any POC role will gain some insights if played by an actor who has more shared experience. Going back to representation issues, if these roles are limited, you're further reducing the opportunities for portrayals driven by those experiences.

People are free to disagree with the above being issues or having any impact. But, many people in the last month have gained increased recognition about the systemic barriers facing visible minirieis and black people specifically. Many of those people that have indicated they stand with black people have been given a chance to reduce the impact of systematic barriers in their influence and are choosing to do so.

 

[bleedblue1223]

Can the writers and producers and directors and animators of Family Guy step down as well?

Why?

 

[Langdon Alger]

And if they can find POC who fill that voice it doesn’t effect your life at all. It’s a really, really dumb thing to be throwing a fit about.

The only person around here throwing a fit is you.

 

[izzy]

Because it’s stupid. It’s not like these actors are appearing in blackface. They are voice actors. What’s the difference if a white person does the voice of a black character?

exactly. whats the difference? why do you care so much

 

[Langdon Alger]

exactly. whats the difference? why do you care so much

you’re right. I’m so sorry for sharing my opinion on a message board. Please forgive me oh wise one.