Simpsons star told show’s ‘woke’ after being recast as Black character

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The Simpsons voice star Harry Shearer says he gets told that the animated program is “woke” after he was recast as one of the Black characters on the show.

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Shearer has voiced a variety of characters on the series, including Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner. But in 2020, he was replaced as the voice of Springfield physician Dr. Hibbert when Simpsons producers said they would no longer have Caucasian actors play characters of colour.

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The move, Shearer says in a new interview with The Times of London, caused some longtime fans to take issue with the cartoon.

“Folk say the show has become woke in recent years and one of my characters has been affected,” Shearer said (per Variety). “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.”

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The character is now played by Kevin Michael Richardson, while another Black character on the sitcom, Homer’s friend Carl Carlson, is now voiced by Alex Desert, who took over from Hank Azaria.

The decision to start recasting some of the roles began in 2017, when the documentary The Problem with Apu addressed the controversy swirling about Azaria voicing Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Azaria said he was willing to step aside as Apu, telling late-night host Stephen Colbert in 2018, “It just feels like the right thing to do.

“I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it,” Azaria said. “I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room … including how (Apu) is voiced or not voiced. I’m perfectly willing to step aside.”

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But in the wake of the controversy, Apu was pushed to the background as Lisa addressed the drama directly with viewers in a 2018 episode, saying: “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?”

Simpsons creator Matt Groening was also unmoved when asked about the fallout by USA Today.

“I’m proud of what we do on the show. And I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended,” he said of the Apu blowback.

But in 2020, producers announced that all characters of colour would be voiced by new actors. Groening spoke about the recasting in a conversation with BBC the following year, telling the network, “times change.

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“I actually didn’t have a problem with the way we were doing it. All of our actors play dozens of characters each; it was never designed to exclude anyone,” Groening said at the time.

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He also told USA Today that it “was not my idea” replace white actors, “but I’m fine with it. Who can be against diversity? So it’s great.

“However, I will just say that the actors were not hired to play specific characters,” Groening added. “They were hired to do whatever characters we thought of. To me, the amazing thing is seeing all our brilliant actors who can do multiple voices.”

Despite his long tenure on the series, in his chat with The Times of London, Shearer said he was apprehensive about joining The Simpsons in 1989.

“Voice actors are usually given a script after the animation is completed. I took the job because it was the other way around. I play more than 20 characters but the evil nuclear power plant owner, Mr. Burns, is a favourite. I styled his voice on Ronald Reagan.”

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