Another white-voice actor from The Simpsons has stopped lending his pipes to a character of color.
According to The Wrap, Harry Shearer, who is white, will stop giving voice to the black character Dr. Hibbert. He will be replaced by Kevin Michael Richardson (“Bless the Harts”) in next Sunday’s episode, “Wad Goals.”
Shearer has voiced Springfield’s most skilled doctor (in contrast to Hank Azaria’s incompetent Dr. Nick) since 1990. He also voices Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner, among other characters, and Fox confirmed to The Post that will continue to express the other roles.
He joins Azaria, who last year announced he would no longer express the Indian character Apu, in part after a 2017 documentary, “The Problem with Apu,” which drew attention to the issue. Azaria still expresses a wide range of characters in the show, such as Moe and Chief Wiggum.
“The Simpsons” is far from the only animated series that has addressed this issue in recent months.
Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020 following the assassination of George Floyd, White Family actor Mike Henry announced that he would stop voicing the black character Cleveland. Arif Zahir has taken on this role ever since.
On Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” Jenny Slate stopped starring in Missy (Ayo Edebiri has since taken over the role) and the Apple TV + Central Park series re-screened the bi-racial character Molly, who have the original voice of Kristen Bell and it is now performed by “Umbrella Academy” star Emmy Raver-Lampman.
“The Simpsons” is currently in season 32, airing on Sundays at 8pm on Fox.