Happy birthday to Kevin Michael Richardson! His voice work has helped make Lewis such a great character.

[u/smcg_az]

[u/[deleted]]

One of the most enjoyable voice actors ever. Still waiting on a Lewis episode where he's into Sumo Wrestling.

[u/Cyno01 → u/[deleted]]

Totally, hes fantastic, hes no Hamill but i liked his Joker even. So not to interrupt this love fest, i just dont know where else i would ever bring this up, and sorry to talk about The Simpsons much on r/AmericanDad, but...

Is anybody else kinda miffed about Hibbert?

Im totally fine with white actors stepping down from voicing characters of color to promote more diversity in the voice acting business, who am i to argue, they certainly know the industry better than anyone else. Although its kinda funny that the role Kristen Bell stepped down from is now held by the wife of a black male cast member who voices a white woman on the show. But S02 was still great, but i like musicals.

But anyway... if the point of people stepping down is to open up roles for more people of color, then why give Hibbert to Kevin Michael Richardson at all?

Hes one of the most prolific voice actors working today, of ANY color. He doesnt need a The Simpsons credit, he probably already has The Simpsons credits. Really no offense to him, i love him, if they wanted him on the show i wouldve loved it if Hibbert retired and Doctor Brian Lewis came to town even. But what they wound up doing just kinda rubs me the wrong way.

Like Family Guy did it right, Mike Henry stepped down from voicing Cleveland (after his show...), and instead of just giving it to Phil Lamar or somebody and lampshading a voice change, they gave some youtube impressionist (of color) who does a spot on Cleveland the job. So more diversity in the industry. Some kid gets a big break. And the voice doesnt change at all. Who can complain about any of that?

And also if changing Hibberts voice is intentional to distance the character from his Cosby parody origins, fine thats one thing. But if not it seems like KMR is kinda phoning it in, the few lines hes had hes definitely not even trying to do Hibbert at all. I wont begrudge anyone not even wanting to get paid for doing a Cosby impression these days, but at that point just retire the character. Bring on the residency of "Dr." ^shh Brian Lewis at Springfield General!

"Dear Nurse bitch, these Simpson kids aint getting vaccinated, look how yellow they already are! \inappropriate chuckle**"

[u/[deleted] → u/Cyno01]

I totally agree with this perspective. If you're gonna open up a spot for a person of color, the sentiment kinda dies on the cutting room floor when that person of color is the most famous person of color in the industry.

What should happen in these sorts of things is that it's given to someone new, so that way you're actively adding more diversity into the field instead of just being like "Yeah, Token's my black friend too!" South Park reference in a discussion about Simpson's casting on r/AmericanDad.

[u/Cyno01 → u/[deleted]]

South Park reference in a discussion about Simpson's casting on r/AmericanDad.

But for real, how great is Daveed Diggs as Helen in Central Park?

https://www.playbill.com/video/keep-it-low-key-central-park

Or in Snowpiercer. Or Hamilton. Or anything i guess...

Oh man, hes gonna be Sebastian in The Little Mermaid too! Hell kill it for sure, but a realistic CGI singing and dancing lobster is gonna be fuckin weird.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cyno01]

a realistic CGI singing and dancing lobster

I'm sorry, what crime against god did the viewing audience commit to deserve something like that

[u/Cyno01 → u/[deleted]]

Hey now, besides everything else terrible about it the live action Mulan also sucked for lack of Mushu.

Cuz remember, without Sebastian^TM and Flounder^TM, its just plain old public domain Hans Christian Andersens The Little Mermaid, not Gisneps The Little Mermaid^TM.