Wednesday's announcement that Jenny Slate would be stepping down as the voice actor for the role of Missy in Netflix's Big Mouth to make room for a Black actor has sparked a fierce discussion on social media about casting in animation. The actress, who is white and who has portrayed Missy since the series' debut in 2017, explained her departure in an open letter shared on Instagram, writing that "Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people."
In her post, Slate acknowledged that her initial reasoning for portraying the character, who is biracial, was "flawed" and said that "it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy." She said that her portrayal of Missy was an example of her "engaging in an act of erasure of Black people" and that stepping away from the role "is one step in a life-long process of uncovering the racism in my actions." Slate's decision was supposed by Big Mouth creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett, who promised in a joint statement to recast the role with a Black actor.
Slate's decision has shed light on a much larger issue within voice acting – the tendency to cast actors to voice characters of a different race. Although similar discussions have occurred in recent years, they gained renewed momentum amid calls for racial equality, and social media wasn't quick to let the discussion die down following Slate's announcement. While some have applauded Slate and the series' decision, stating hopes that other series will follow suit, others have cast doubt that doing so is necessary given, citing other examples of animated characters voiced by actors of a different race. Keep scrolling to see what social media is saying.