Actor Alex Désert Replaces Hank Azaria On ‘The Simpsons’ After Fox Vows To Stop Using White Actors For Non-White Characters

Alex Désert, Hank Azaria

Actor Alex Désert Replaces Hank Azaria On ‘The Simpsons’ After Fox Vows To Stop Using White Actors For Non-White Characters

The Simpsons series is getting a shakeup for its upcoming 32nd season. Actor Alex Désert is slated to voice Carl Carlson, Homer Simpson’s longtime work friend on the long-running animated series.

Actor Harry Shearer previously voiced Carl in a season 1 episode before being replaced by Hank Azaria. Both are white men who played the black character. Now, Alex Désert has been named the voice of Carl Carlson for the Fox show’s season 32 premiere. It’s not clear if Alex Désert will take on the role permanently, or just for the episode.

Hank Azaria also stepped down from voicing Apu, an Indian character.

Fox announced in June that it would no longer hire white actors to voice non-white characters.

It said in a statement:

“Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.”

The change comes after multiple white actors pulled out of voicing non-white characters on popular animated shows earlier this summer.

Jenny Slate, Missy of ‘Big Mouth’

Jenny Slate, formerly of Big Mouth, was one of the first to step away from her role as Missy. She said in a statement:

“I have come to the decision today that I can no longer play the character of Missy on the animated TV showBig Mouth. At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play Missy because her mom is Jewish and white — as am I. But Missy is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.”

See her full statement below.