Jenny Slate is ????? ?????? ??????stepping down from her role as Missy on the hit Netflix series Big Mouth.
Slate, who is a white, Jewish woman, has voiced the character since Big Mouthlaunched in 2017. But Missy is biracial, with a white, Jewish mother and a Black father. In her statement explaining the departure, posted on Instagram, Slate directly addresses the issue.
"At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play 'Missy' because her mom is Jewish and White – as am I. But 'Missy' is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people," the statement reads.
You May Also Like
Slate goes on to acknowledge that her original reasoning was rooted in her own white privilege, and amounted to "an act of erasure of Black people." She also calls her exit from the show "one step in a life-long process of uncovering the racism in my actions."
Shortly after Slate posted her statement, Nick Kroll, speaking on behalf of all four Big Mouth co-creators, shared a statement of support for Slate's move on Twitter, along with an apology for casting her in the role to begin with.
"After thoughtful discussion with us and our Black collaborators, Jenny Slate has decided, and we wholeheartedly agree, that Missy on Big Mouthshould be voiced by a Black actor," the statement reads. Kroll also makes it clear that while Missy will be recast, the character herself will continue to embody the same qualities she has all along.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.SEE ALSO: Tina Fey, NBC ask to have '30 Rock' episodes featuring Blackface pulled from streaming services
"We are proud of the representation that Missy has offered cerebral, sensitive women of color, and we plan to continue that representation and further grow Missy's character as we recast a new Black actor to play her."
Big Mouth's third season launched on Netflix in Oct. 2019. At least three more seasons are coming thanks to a deal the streaming service struck with the creators a few months before the third season launched.
Hours after the Big Mouth announcement, Apple TV+'s Central Park revealed it would follow suit. The series had featured a biracial character named Molly voiced by Kristen Bell, who is white. In a statement, series creators Loren Bouchard, Josh Gad, Nora Smith, Halstead Sullivan, and Sanjay Shah confirmed that the role would be recast. Bell will remain in the cast playing a new role.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"We profoundly regret that we might have contributed to anyone's feeling of exclusion or erasure," they wrote. "Black people and people of color have worked and will continue to work on Central Park but we can do better... Our shop and our show will be better for respecting the nuances and complexity around the issue of representation and trying to get it right."
Bell shared the statement on Instagram, adding, "Playing the character of Molly on Central Park shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege."
She continued, "Casting a mixed race character with a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race and Black American experience. It was wrong and we, on the Central Parkteam, are pledging to make it right."
The decision represents a change of heart for the producers, who had previously defended the decision to cast Bell as a biracial character. "Kristen needed to be Molly; we couldn’t not make her Molly," said Bouchard in January. "But then we couldn’t make Molly white and we couldn’t make Kristen mixed race so we just had to go forward."
Central Parkpremiered in late May, and continues to release new episodes each week on Apple TV+.
UPDATE: June 24, 2020, 7:14 p.m. PDT Updated with news of Central Park's decision to recast the role of Molly.
Topics Netflix