Family Guy recasts major character in response to whitewashing accusations
Family Guy has cast YouTube star Arif Zahir as the new voice of Cleveland Brown.
Zahir, who shot to online fame after a video of him impersonating Cleveland went viral, will now be taking on the actual role from season 19 onwards.
He'll be replacing Mike Henry, the creator of the character who had voiced him since Family Guy first premiered in 1999. He also played the role for the spin-off series The Cleveland Show.
In June, Henry announced that he would no longer be voicing Cleveland, saying: "I love this character, but persons of colour should play characters of colour."
Following Henry's decision, Zahir paid tribute to the voice actor with a video on his YouTube channel. At the end of it, he declared his interest in playing Cleveland and even started a petition to make it happen.
For season 18, Henry will continue to be heard as the voice of Cleveland, since the episodes have already been completed. But Zahir will take over moving forward.
"Arif's vocal talent is obvious, but his understanding of Cleveland and his respect for the character give me confidence that he is in the right hands,” Henry said of the casting (via Variety).
"I look forward to getting to know Arif and working with him to make sure Cleveland stays every bit as awesome as he has always been."
Zahir has since shared an Instagram post about his casting, saying he "could've never imagined such an achievement".
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A post shared by Arif Zahir (@azerrz.4rif) on Sep 25, 2020 at 9:15am PDT
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News of Zahir's casting comes just a day after it was announced that The Simpsons had found a new actor to voice Carl Carlson. The character was previously played by Hank Azaria, but will now be taken over by Alex Desert.
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