Alison Brie Becomes Latest Actor To Regret Voicing Minority Character
Alison Brie regrets voicing a Vietnamese-American character on the popular Netflix original animated comedy, BoJack Horseman. The actress played Diane Nguyen on the popular program and she expressed her regret through a post on her personal Instagram account on Friday night.
“In hindsight, I wish that I didn’t voice the character of Diane Nguyen,” Brie said in the post.
“I now understand that people of color should always voice people of color. We missed a great opportunity to represent the Vietnamese American community accurately and respectfully, and for that, I am truly sorry. I applaud all those who stepped away from their voiceover roles in recent days. I have learned a lot from them.”
Jordan Moreau of Variety reported that Brie’s comments echoed showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s comments earlier in the week. BoJack Horseman‘s creator said there were never any Vietnamese writers or actors on the show. He added they did hire a Vietnamese person to consult on the program for an episode where the character of Nguyen visited Vietnam. He said that in hindsight, he should have hired Vietnamese actors and writers. He added that if they weren’t going to hire someone to match the character, they should have changed the character to match Brie.
Brie is just the latest actor to come forward and voice her regrets about playing a person of color. Earlier in the week, comedian Jenny Slate announced she was leaving the Netflix show, Big Mouth. Slate, who is white, voiced bi-racial character, Missy, in the show’s first three seasons.
Slate followed Kristen Bell’s announcement on the same day that she would no longer be playing the bi-racial character, Molly, on the Apple TV Plus series Central Park. Unlike Slate, Bell did say she isn’t leaving the show entirely and will instead be voicing a different character moving forward.
The longest-running show on television is also making changes when it comes to casting decisions for minority characters. The showrunners for The Simpsons said they will only hire minority actors for characters that depict minorities from now on. The show will also change up current characters and actors in order to follow along with the new directive.
The Simpsons had come under fire over the last few years for continuing to have white actor Hank Azaria voice Indian Kwik-E-Mart proprietor Apu. Last year, Azaria announced he would no longer play the character.
On Friday, Mike Henry, who is white, announced on Twitter he would no longer play Cleveland Brown, a Black character on The Family Guy. Henry had voiced Brown for 20 years.
