Former ‘Simpsons’ Star Says ‘Show Has Become Woke’ After He Was Replaced by Black Actor

Harry Shearer is claiming the irreverent animated series The Simpsons has drastically changed in the last few seasons. The white actor played Dr. Hibbert, the Simpsons’ Black family physician, from 1990 to 2020 and in 2021, the show’s producers gave the part to Kevin Michael Richardson, a Black actor.

“Folks say the show has become woke in recent years and one of my characters has been affected,” he exclusively tells In Touch. “I voiced the Black physician, Dr. Hibbert, who I based on Bill Cosby. Back then he was known as the ‘whitest Black man on television.’ Then, a couple of years ago, I received an email saying they’d employed a Black actor, who then copied my voice. The result is a Black man imitating a white man imitating the whitest Black man on TV.”

In 2020, Simpsons producers decided white actors would no longer voice characters of color.

Two of Hank Azaria’s roles have also been affected. Alex Désert is now voicing Homer’s Black coworker Carl Carlson, while Indian-American convenience store proprietor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has been canceled altogether.

Neither actor is on the unemployment line, however. Harry, 80, still voices 20 or so other characters, including Ned Flanders and Principal Skinner, while Hank, 60, continues to play Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum, among other parts.