Jenny Slate Stepping Down From Netflix's 'Big Mouth' to Make Room for Black Actor Inspires Debate on Social Media

It's VOICE acting! Should only a DOG voice Scooby Doo!?! Should only a WABBIT voice Bugs Bunny!?? This virtue signalling nonsense just gets dumber everyday. Sheeit, Bart Simpson has been voiced by a woman for 30 years! Black people don't need these empty gestures. https://t.co/rsMXXfgYXP

I don’t watch the show but they had Jenny Slate voice a Black character? No one thought that was weird? pic.twitter.com/YA23CWusvp

Its a fuxking cartoon are people going to cry that naruto and 78929 other anime and cartoon characters that are male are voiced by females????Now everything is offensive?

James earl jones played darth vader a white guy. No one thought it was weird. Uncle phil voice shredder a japanese character no one found it weird? Lmao. Voice actors bring a voice to a character not a race.

This is a really complicated subsection of a larger casting issue in animation, and while I believe Jenny Slate should be in everything I also think she's made the right call here. https://t.co/sfJfXolTPq

When it comes to voices, all that matters is if the actor can capture the essence of the character. It literally does not matter what your skin color is, as it's not something people are going to see.

The voice of Bart Simpson is a woman. Why can’t a man be found to fill this role? It’s absurd to think the same race and/or gender has to play the character they portray. If they are good enough then it does not matter what gender, race or religion they are.

It’s not that we need the color to match, it’s that there are fewer jobs for black people in acting and these roles could have been opportunities for black ppl but they were filled with white ppl instead

No. James Earl Jones voiced Darth Vader, Mark Hamill voiced Fire Lord Ozai, the list goes on. Women voice young male characters all the time, like Veronica Taylor voices Ash Ketchum, a Japanese kid. No one has a problem.

I disagree- voice actors come from all walks of life, some are super taliented people to say they can only play their race would limit one area that actually has Diversity in the industry. They need more black characters, to hire more black actors yes but not #Segregation pic.twitter.com/HPRyIjNdua

I respect her decision, and this will be good for the black actress who takes the role, but I don't see much of an issue with voice acting. If a director is looking for a particular voice and likes what you have, I think it's fair. Look at Samurai Jack, Phil Lamar is amazing.

However I do understand that in today's society there are many struggling minority actors trying to get a good role, which is sometimes taken by a white actor. I'm struggling to get VO work as well. So I definitely understand where people are coming from.

That’s not even the problem tho. The problem is black and poc voice actors not getting the same chances as their white counterparts. Not one race voicing another.

The point of voice acting is to provide a fitting voice to a character, the race of the VA literally doesn't matter. I don't get this obsession with separating roles to race only.