‘Family Guy’ Star Quits Cleveland Brown Role: ‘Persons of Color Should Play
Written by SOURCE on June 27, 2020
Mike Henry is exiting his decades-long role as Cleveland Brown, a fan-favorite character on the hit animated series Family Guy.
The veteran voice actor, who is white, announced his decision via Twitter on Friday, writing: “It’s been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years. I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color.”
Henry had voiced the Black character since the inaugural season of Family Guy in 1999. He also provided the voice for Latina maid Consuela and led the animated spinoff series The Cleveland Show from 2009 to 2013.
The actor’s decision comes after a number of white actors announced they would no longer voice animated characters of color. Earlier this week, Jenny Slate confirmed she had given up her role as Missy, a biracial character on Netflix’s Big Mouth. Hours after Slate’s announcement/apology, Kristen Bell announced she would no longer voice the mixed-race character of Molly on Apple TV+’s animated series Central Park; However, the show’s creators insisted Bell would still be involved in the show.
