Producers of animated TV comedy The Simpsons have announced that they are also ending the use of white actors to voice characters of colour. “Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters,” they said in a brief statement. The statement did not elaborate but the move follows years of public pressure about the Fox television show’s Indian convenience store character Apu, who is voiced by Hank Azaria.
Meanwhile, Family Guy voice actor Mike Henry said he is stepping down from the role of Cleveland Brown on the Fox animated series. Henry wrote on Twitter that he will stop playing the show’s main Black character because “persons of colour should play characters of colour.”
Earlier, following the controversy surrounding the long-running character Apu, creator Matt Groening earlier said the show's commitment to Apu, an Indian character who runs the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield.
Asked whether Apu would remain on the show following reports that the character had been written out of the show, Groening said: "Yes. We love Apu. We're proud of Apu."
The issue of Apu, a South Asian character, was the centrepiece of a documentary titled "The Problem with Apu", in which comedian Hari Kondabolu spoke to celebrities of South Asian descent about the negative impact that the character has had on them.
Azaria has also voiced the Simpsons characters of Black police officer Lou and the Mexican-American Bumblebee Man. Harry Shearer has played Dr Hibbert, who is Black
(With IANS Inputs)
