Harry Shearer, a member of the long-running Fox animated series’ core cast, will stop voicing Dr. Julius Hibbert, who is Black, on the show. Sunday’s episode, “DiaryQueen,” featured Shearer providing the character’s voice for the final time.
Starting with the Feb. 28 episode, “Wad Goals,” Kevin Michael Richardson will take over as Dr. Hibbert. Richardson is a prolific voice actor who has worked on more than 70 Simpsons episodes in the past; his credits also include Family Guy, American Dad and F Is for Family.
Richardson’s casting follows that of Alex Désert as Homer’s (Dan Castellaneta) co-worker Carl Carlson (previously played by Hank Azaria) and Jenny Yokobori as Kumiko Albertson (previously voiced by Tress MacNeille), the wife of Comic Book Guy.
It also further makes good on a statement Simpsons producers made in June 2020, when they said that “Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.“
Read the full story at Hollywood Reporter.
