Actresses Kristen Bell and Jenny Slate separately announced on Wednesday that they would no longer be voicing biracial cartoon characters, saying the roles should be voiced by Black actors who could better portray the characters.
Actresses Kristen Bell and Jenny Slate separately announced on Wednesday that they would no longer be voicing biracial cartoon characters, acknowledging white privilege had allowed them to take such roles.
Slate, who voices Missy in Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” posted a statement to Instagram early Wednesday that said she would be leaving the role to make space for a Black actress who can better portray the character. The actress said she originally justified her decision to play Missy because the character’s mother is white and Jewish like her.
“But ‘Missy’ is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people,” Slate said. “I acknowledge how my original reasoning is flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.”
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