It has been an honor playing Cleveland in Family Guy for 20 years. I love this character, but people of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will leave office. pic.twitter.com/FmKasWITKT
– Mike Henry (@mikehenrybro) June 26, 2020
Henry has been a mainstay of the series since its debut in 1999, serving as a writer and co-producer, in addition to voicing several other recurring characters such as Herbert and Consuela. Henry also co-created the spin-off series The Cleveland Show, which aired for four seasons from 2009 to 2013.
The Fox series The Simpsons will undergo similar changes in the near future. Fox issued a statement stating, “Moving on, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors playing non-white characters.”
Both ads come as more and more scrutiny is directed at animated projects featuring white actors voicing characters of color. Earlier this year, The Simpsons’ Hank Azaria relinquished his decades-long role as Apu, in response to criticism raised by Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu. Family executive producers Guy Rich Appel and Alex Sulkin also announced in 2019 that the series would begin to phase out gay jokes.
It is unclear when exactly the Family Guy review in Cleveland will go into effect or how far along the recast process is. Given the show’s long production time, Henry has likely recorded the dialogue for at least a few episodes of season 19. That said, those lines very likely will be re-recorded when a new actor is released.
For more on the long history of Family Guy on the air, check out IGN’s Top 20 Family Guy episodes.
Jesse is a friendly staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to his intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
