Current Events > Jenny Slate is no longer on Big Mouth because of racial inauthencity

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https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/jenny-slate-big-mouth-missy-1234648600/

Jenny Slate is exiting her role as Missy (pictured above, center) on the Netflix show Big Mouth due to the character being biracial while Slate is white.
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, Slate wrote on Instagram. But Missy is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.
Slate went on to acknowledge that by portraying Missy she was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people. Ending my portrayal of Missy is one step in a life-long process of uncovering the racism in my actions, she continued.
Big Mouth co-creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett posted a statement as well supporting Slates decision. We sincerely apologize for and regret our original decision to cast a white actor to voice a biracial character.
The creators then vowed to recast the role with a Black actor. We look forward to being able to explore Missys story with even greater authenticity in the years to come, they concluded.
It was announced last year that Netflix had renewed Big Mouth for three more seasons, which will bring the show to six seasons total. Season 3 of the show aired in October. There is not currently a premiere date set for Season 4

Never looked at it from this angle. You would think because as a cartoon the voice talent should be 100% character-based, not skin color but whatever it's her choice. I enjoyed her dorky nasally voice :(

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I'm surprised Allison Brie never got shit for voicing a Vietnamese woman in Bojack

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I will never understand this mindset.

or Mike Henry for voicing Cleveland Brown for 15 years lmao

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I don't know why people care so much when a cartoon characters voice actor gets changed, but seem to not care when a video game characters voice gets changed. They replace voice actors for the same character on video games all the time. Until there is justice for that I won't care about them being replaced on TV.

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Wait...the character is half white and half black, so it's wrong to be played by a white person but not wrong to be played by a black person? Shouldn't it be either bi-racial is the only acceptable choice or either race is acceptable?

nemu posted...

I will never understand this mindset.

You're only allowed to pretend to be people who are exactly like you, obviously.

Stupid shit, but I don't watch Big Mouth because I can't stand the art style so whatever.

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Tenlaar posted...

Wait...the character is half white and half black, so it's wrong to be played by a white person but not wrong to be played by a black person? Shouldn't it be either bi-racial is the only acceptable choice or either race is acceptable?

Yeah it's odd. Idk why a black person has to voice a character who is half black. It doesn't make much sense to me, but whatever.

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I used to like/be somewhat okay with Jenny Slate until I saw that she was an enemy of the art of comedy from this red carpet debacle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A848xpsDJbw

Norm and the guests are all having a fun time and she and the other guy are just ruining everything. Her more so with her constant whine-face at everything Norm did.

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That's like saying Neil Patrick Harris couldn't be Barney in How I Met Your Mother because he's gay in real life >_>

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Ehhhhhh.

Ehhhhh.

Eh.

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Well gee, I hope they get a mixed person for the role otherwise this was totally pointless

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Wtf
Using the one drop rule. That's disgusting.

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MedeaLysistrata posted...

Well gee, I hope they get a mixed person for the role otherwise this was totally pointless

That's what doesn't sit right with me, they don't say they want to try to find a bi-racial voice actor, they straight up say they want a black voice actor.

Voice ACTING

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Kastrada posted...

I used to like/be somewhat okay with Jenny Slate until I saw that she was an enemy of the art of comedy from this red carpet debacle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A848xpsDJbw

Norm and the guests are all having a fun time and she and the other guy are just ruining everything. Her more so with her constant whine-face at everything Norm did.

I only watched a few minutes but yeeeeeeikes.

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Propane4Sale posted...

I only watched a few minutes but yeeeeeeikes.

It gets better, trust me. Garfunkel and Oates come in toward the end and Norm makes a knife rape joke and you can see Slate and the other guy get really annoyed and uncomfortable.

Garfunkel and Oates play along with it and make jokes back because they are true comedians. >_>

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Not really a fan of this practice for most cases. This would mean that black actors could only voice black characters, which are already limited to begin with.

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I mean its her choice and she wasnt forced out. Ill support her on this.

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MonkeyBones23 posted...

Not really a fan of this practice for most cases. This would mean that black actors could only voice black characters, which are already limited to begin with.

And uhhh discriminatory??? The whole fucking thing we are trying to eliminate! This whole thing is fucked!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4FeEJYa9Y0

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With voice acting I feel this is a bit of a grey area.

The whole idea of a seasoned voice actor is the ability to throw your voice, put inflections on it, including from different areas of the world.

I understand what Jenny is saying and it is respectable, but the job of a voice actor (IMO) is to be a chameleon and alter their voice as is necessary for the role.

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Hope the new season is good.

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NeonOctopus posted...

That's like saying Neil Patrick Harris couldn't be Barney in How I Met Your Mother because he's gay in real life >_>

He actually said it was pretty weird for him the first few seasons because he hadnt come out publicly yet

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Tenlaar posted...

Wait...the character is half white and half black, so it's wrong to be played by a white person but not wrong to be played by a black person? Shouldn't it be either bi-racial is the only acceptable choice or either race is acceptable?

This is no place for logic, this is the internet.

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Her voicing the character isnt an issue unless missy has race related storybeats, which I cant recall any, but thats just as much of a problem as a white writing team writing a race related story.

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I'm surprised the actors are still onboard with the show that seems like straight pedophile bait

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So its ok for a black person to voice a white character. Its ok for a black person to play a white character. But a white person can't even voice a half white character? I mean seriously what is this bullshit? And then progressives wonder why so many people get sick of their shit. Don't do stupid things like this and people wouldn't get so bent out of shape all the time.

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^^^^^ You seem really mad about this lol

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Gamerguymass posted...

So its ok for a black person to voice a white character. Its ok for a black person to play a white character. But a white person can't even voice a half white character? I mean seriously what is this bullshit? And then progressives wonder why so many people get sick of their shit. Don't do stupid things like this and people wouldn't get so bent out of shape all the time.

two things

name a black voice actor voicing a white character that can be described as the white character of the show.

the problem isnt one race voicing a Character of different race.

The problem is Jenny slate shouldnt be voicing missy if missy is gonna talk about what its like to be black..


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gamepimp12 posted...

two things

name a black voice actor voicing a white character that can be described as the white character of the show.

the problem isnt one race voicing a Character of different race.

The problem is Jenny slate shouldnt be voicing missy if missy is gonna talk about what its like to be black..

this


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MC_BatCommander posted...

I'm surprised Allison Brie never got shit for voicing a Vietnamese woman in Bojack

She did get shit for it, but Dianne was white washed as seen in her trip to Vietnam so it didnt hurt the character

gamepimp12 posted...

The problem is Jenny slate shouldnt be voicing missy if missy is gonna talk about what its like to be black..

But Missy can't talk about what it's like to be black, only what it's like to be bi-racial with a white Jewish mother, so by your logic they should be saying they are going to find a bi-racial voice actor, not a black one.

Also, wouldn't that be more about the writers, not about the voice actor?

Thats a show for pedos

gamepimp12 posted...

two things

name a black voice actor voicing a white character that can be described as the white character of the show.

the problem isnt one race voicing a Character of different race.

The problem is Jenny slate shouldnt be voicing missy if missy is gonna talk about what its like to be black..

That's a very weird standard for who should voice who. You could argue that someone who has a real life experience can potentially turn that experience into a better performance, but it's not really necessary.

Tenlaar posted...

But Missy can't talk about what it's like to be black, only what it's like to be bi-racial with a white Jewish mother, so by your logic they should be saying they are going to find a bi-racial voice actor, not a black one.

Jenny doesn't likely get a say in who they replace her with. I assume ideally they would get someone with the exact qualifications. If not, Jenny would rather a black actress get the job over herself.

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Propane4Sale posted...

Slate went on to acknowledge that by portraying Missy she was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.

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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

Jenny doesn't likely get a say in who they replace her with. I assume ideally they would get someone with the exact qualifications. If not, Jenny would rather a black actress get the job over herself.

The creators of the show have apologized for casting a white woman and said that they also believe the character should be played by a black actor. Not bi-racial, black. They are literally saying that it's wrong for a white person to play a half white, half black character but not a black person.

I'm reminded of the Uncharted 4 drama about whatshername, the white chick, voicing whatshername, the black chick.
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NeonOctopus posted...

That's like saying Neil Patrick Harris couldn't be Barney in How I Met Your Mother because he's gay in real life >_>

Remember when the CW crowd was like We need gay actor for Batwoman! Then Ruby Rose was cast. Then they said She's not gay enough!!!

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Tenlaar posted...

But Missy can't talk about what it's like to be black, only what it's like to be bi-racial with a white Jewish mother, so by your logic they should be saying they are going to find a bi-racial voice actor, not a black one.

Also, wouldn't that be more about the writers, not about the voice actor?

lets be real here, mixed people are viewed as both black and mixed, as two separate things. So while a black voice actor could talk about being black, its probably not best for them to talk about what it like being mixed.

and yes its mainly a writers issue, but its not solely a writers issue.

nemu posted...

That's a very weird standard for who should voice who. You could argue that someone who has a real life experience can potentially turn that experience into a better performance, but it's not really necessary.

its not really about being a better performance, but more about being authentic, I as a black man probably shouldnt get on tv and speak about what its like to be a white man from a white mans perspective

For what its worth I def think it can be done, but it requires a lot of care.

and personally its not even that you shouldnt do the character at all, its more you should use that character as a mouth piece if youre gonna do that, especially without putting a lot of care and research into it


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Jus have tara strong voice the character
Who cares

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Tenlaar posted...

The creators of the show have apologized for casting a white woman and said that they also believe the character should be played by a black actor. Not bi-racial, black. They are literally saying that it's wrong for a white person to play a half white, half black character but not a black person.

People often speak colloquially in reference to this stuff. For example, a lot of people would call The Rock Black as opposed to bi-racial. He isn't Black, he is Bi-Racially African and Samoan.

But you are purposefully taking things to extremes to try and make some point that is honestly nothing that needs to be made.

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Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

People often speak colloquially in reference to this stuff. For example, a lot of people would call The Rock Black as opposed to bi-racial. He isn't Black, he is Bi-Racially African and Samoan.

But you are purposefully taking things to extremes to try and make some point that is honestly nothing that needs to be made.

Well, first, I have literally never heard anybody call The Rock black so that's a weird example to pick. Second, your accusation of "takings things to extremes" is absolutely meaningless nonsense because there are no extremes here at all. You have a character that is half one race and half another race and you have people saying it's only okay for one of the races to voice that character.

gamepimp12 posted...

lets be real here, mixed people are viewed as both black and mixed, as two separate things. So while a black voice actor could talk about being black, its probably not best for them to talk about what it like being mixed.

and yes its mainly a writers issue, but its not solely a writers issue.

its not really about being a better performance, but more about being authentic, I as a black man probably shouldnt get on tv and speak about what its like to be a white man from a white mans perspective

For what its worth I def think it can be done, but it requires a lot of care.

and personally its not even that you shouldnt do the character at all, its more you should use that character as a mouth piece if youre gonna do that, especially without putting a lot of care and research into it

In the case of acting, you wouldn't really be speaking anything. You're just parroting lines written for you. Should we go even further? Should only black writers write for black characters? If the main director/producer is not black, should there be a secondary black director hired to direct scenes involving black characters? The only thing I would expect is that they consulted with experts on the subject matter and portray it in a positive light. So long as we foster an environment in which black actors are not turned down for being black, then that's as far as we should go. This kind of mindset seems to be a major over-correction attempt.

If the character is half white (Jewish) and half black, then a white Jewish lady is just as fine to voice her as a black woman. They're basically saying the "one drop rule" is right by saying she must be played by a black person.

And I guarantee not a single black person ever gave a fuck.

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spanky1 posted...

I'm reminded of the Uncharted 4 drama about whatshername, the white chick, voicing whatshername, the black chick.

A little bit different in retrospect even though the character's purpose to plot was razor thin and in no way defined by a racial component, it was still ignorant for ND to not hire a black actress with an English accent (if in fact she was written to have one) .

This story is like ehhhh not really sensical on the surface but I get the motivation.

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Kastrada posted...

you can see Slate and the other guy get really annoyed and uncomfortable.

damn that barfyman362!

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Propane4Sale posted...

A little bit different in retrospect even though the character's purpose to plot was razor thin and in no way defined by a racial component, it was still ignorant for ND to not hire a black actress with an English accent (if in fact she was written to have one) .

This story is like ehhhh not really sensical on the surface but I get the motivation.

So then is it "ignorant" of developers to hire black actors to voice white characters?

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