Wendell Pierce Wants To Be New Voice of ‘Family Guy”s Cleveland
In response to recent re-evaluations of casting choices for racially specific animated characters, Mike Henry has stepped down from the role of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy and The Cleveland Show after 20 years of voicing the character.
While it's undecided who will be taking over the role moving forward, Wendell Pierce has thrown his hat in the ring via Twitter. Check out his post below, where he says he is "starting a campaign" to voice Cleveland in future episodes of The Cleveland Show:
Not every actor has the guts to publicly declare the wish to play a certain role, so Pierce gets points for that alone. Not to mention, he's quite accomplished as an actor.
Known best for his roles in the critically-acclaimed drama series The Wire, Treme, and Suits, Pierce has racked up some pretty impressive credits. He's more than qualified to take over the voice of Cleveland, and he's a big enough Family Guy fan to know how to do it just right.
The news of Henry departing from the role of an African American character is just one of the many examples of animated series recasting characters to be ethnically correct. Hank Azaria of The Simpsons will no longer be voicing Indian Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu, and Jenny Slate has resigned from her role of Missy, who is bi-racial.
No recasting decisions for The Cleveland Show have been made yet, but as Pierce's tweet gains momentum, who knows? Fox may have found their new Cleveland.
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