‘The Simpsons’ will make history
The American sitcom and the oldest animation program in television history, ‘The Simpsons’ will become the oldest TV show – period – on Sunday, when FOX’s success takes the title of ‘Gunsmoke’.
“The Simpsons” officially reshaped the actor’s voice behind one of his Black characters, originally voiced by longtime cast member Harry Shearer.
Springfield’s jovial doctor, Dr. Julius Hibbert, will no longer be voiced by Shearer after the Fox series announced in June that he will no longer have his Black characters voiced by White actors. Shearer has played Hibbert and several other characters in the series for more than 30 years.
According to People, Hibbert will now be voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, who has appeared as other characters in more than 70 episodes of the series. The final episode of Shearer giving voice to Hibbert will be in Sunday’s episode entitled “Dairy Queen”. Richardson will take the reins for the first time as Hibbert in the next episode entitled “Wad Goals”.
Representatives of “The Simpsons” did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
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Although Shearer will no longer play Hibbert, he will continue to be the voice talent behind other beloved “Simpsons” characters such as Mr. Burns, Director Skinner, Waylon Smithers and Ned Flanders.
Shearer previously explained in August that he does not necessarily agree with the decision to reshape the series’ black characters after widespread criticism and renewed attention to the cast, sparked by last summer’s protests over racial inequality.
Dr. Julius Hibbert will no longer be voiced by Harry Shearer.
(Fox / Getty images)
“I have a very simple belief about acting. The actor’s job is to play someone he isn’t,” Shearer, 77, told Times Radio at the time (via the Daily Mail).
He added: “This is the job, this is the job description.”
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Shearer added that while he no longer expresses Dr. Hibbert’s role, his career has not been seriously affected by the news.
“We are not paid for the voice,” he told the agency.
Kevin Michael Richardson will be the new voice behind Dr. Julius Hibbert in ‘The Simpsons’.
(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly)
The decision to rethink how to voice Springfield’s black characters came months after “The Simpsons” voice actor Hank Azaria confirmed that he would no longer give the character Apu a voice after the reaction against his interpretation of Indians and South Asia. The decision was triggered in large part by the critical documentary “The Problem with Apu”.
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Other animated shows followed suit, with Mike Henry, who previously voiced Cleveland Brown for two decades on “Family Guy” and the subsequent spinoff “The Cleveland Show “, failed to give the character a voice.
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Meanwhile, Kristen Bell moved away from her character in the AppleTV + animated series “Central Park” just before Jenny Slate made the same decision about her character, Missy, in Netflix’s “Big Mouth”.