Coming shortly after Jenny Slate, Actor mike Henry steps down from his role as Cleveland Brown in Family Guy. He says that the role belongs to a person of color; as the character itself is a black man. This shows that, Voice over actors have started a movement of their own.
It may surprise you how many black animated characters are voiced by white actors, but they are taking a stand and deciding to step down from their roles in light of recent events.
In an Instagram post, Mike says that while he has enjoyed his journey as Cleveland Brown on “Family Guy”, he will no longer be part of the show.
“Its been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years,” he says. “I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role.”
Mike is not the first actor to step away from his role this week; As we previously reported, actress Jenny Slate also abandoned her role on Netflix’s “Big Mouth”.
She was one of the first actors to announce her resignation; and gave a lengthy explanation about her voicing a black character has contributed to racism and white privilege.
How old were you when you found out that Cleveland was played by a white man?
