Woke culture has infiltrated “The Simpsons” — at least that’s what Harry Shearer seems to be suggesting after pointing out they replaced his Black character with an actual Black voice.
Shearer — a white actor who voices over 20 characters on ‘Simpsons,’ including Dr. Hibbert, who’s portrayed as Black on the show — talked about where things stand with the long-running series and some recent changes they’ve made … including accurate casting.
HS says he was notified a few years ago that he’d no longer be voicing Dr. Hibbert as he had for years — instead, they hired Kevin Michael Richardson, who’s Black, to do it.
He tells The Times of London … “Folks say the show has become woke in recent years, and one of my characters has been affected.”
Shearer adds … “I voiced the Black physician, Dr. Hibbert, who I based on Bill Cosby. Back then he was known as the ‘whitest Black man on television.’ Then, a couple of years ago, I received an email saying they’d employed a Black actor, who then copied my voice. The result is a Black man imitating a white man imitating the whitest Black man on TV.”
On its face, it seems like Harry is actually cosigning the notion “The Simpsons” have, in fact, gone woke … and he might be a little sour about it. Mind you, he’s still employed on ‘Simpsons’ and still voices a ton of other characters — but this has been brought up before.
You’ll recall … there was a similar switch with Black character Carl Carlson, previously voiced by Hank Azaria, who was then replaced by Alex Désert.
Of course, Hank also stepped away from voicing Apu, an Indian character after long-standing controversy his portrayal created a dehumanizing stereotype … and HA seemed cool with it.
Harry, though … well, hard to say if the feeling is mutual on his end.