Kristen Bell is coming down from one of her recent concerts.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the “Good Place” star would no longer appear in the Apple TV + animated musical comedy “Central Park.”
Bell, 39, voiced a biracial character named Molly, the daughter of characters played by Leslie Odom Jr. and Kathryn Hahn, whose races coincide with those of her characters.
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The announcement was made by a handful of producers on the show, who stated that “Molly’s character cast is an opportunity to get the right portrayal: cast a black or mixed-race actress and give Molly a voice that resonates with everyone. nuances and experiences of the character as we have drawn it. “
Bell also shared the statement online, adding his own.
“This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity. Here’s one of mine. Playing Molly in ‘Central Park’ shows a lack of awareness of my widespread privilege. Launching a mixed-race character with a white actress undermines specificity. of the movie, mixed race and African American experience, “he said.
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He continued, explaining that he is “happy to give up the role” and promised “to commit to learning, growing, and doing my part for equality and inclusion.”
Creator Loren Bouchard had previously talked about putting Bell on paper, saying that the creators “just had to move on” because Bell was a good fit for the role, but “they couldn’t make Molly white.”
Kristen Bell. (Photo by Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP, File)
“Central Park,” which is a handful of episodes in its first season on Apple TV +, stars Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, Tituss Burgess, and Stanley Tucci, in addition to Odom and Hahn.
The announcement comes shortly after white actress Jenny Slate announced that she would no longer be playing Missy, a mixed race, on Netflix’s “Big Mouth.”
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“Today I have made the decision that I can no longer play the character of ‘Missy’ on the animated television show ‘Big Mouth,'” Slate said in a statement. “At the beginning of the show, I reasoned to myself that it was permissible for me to play ‘Missy’ because her mother is Jewish and white, like me. But ‘Missy’ is also black and black characters in an anime show should be played by black people. “
