Last summer, the top brass at The Simpsons that all non-white characters voiced by white performers would be recast. It began with Hank Azaria, who last year stepped away from voicing Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Kwik-E-Mart proprietor and Indian immigrant, following years of complaints, including a feature length documentary called The Problem with Apu. (Apu has yet to be recast, though honcho Matt Groening has said he will remain on the show.) And on Sunday, viewers heard Harry Shearer do his take on Dr. Hibbert for the last time.
When Dr. Hibbert returns on Sunday, Feb. 28, he’ll bear the voice of one Kevin Michael Richardson, a longtime voice talent with credits on a ton of children’s entertainment, including Adventure Time, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and more. He’s not exactly a new voice: He’s been on The Simpsons for years, voicing more minor characters, including, on one episode last year, Dave Chappelle.
Dr. Julius Hibbert, Springfield’s finest medical practitioner, made his first appearance in the Season2 classic “Bart the Daredevil,” from back in 1990. Shearer has voiced him from the start, but it’s been one of his many, many characters, among them Montgomery Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Waylon Smithers, Reverend Lovejoy, Otto Mann, etc., etc. So truly he already has enough on his plate to keep him occupied, lest Don Jr. and whatever conservatives start misusing the term “cancelled” again.
(Via EW)
