# White people voicing non-white characters **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861 "2020-06-24T22:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/22 "2020-06-25T16:45:24Z")
> [@Telemachus](#): > > > [@Senegoid](#): > > > > As I recall, Foghorn Leghorn wasn’t voiced by an actual rooster > > In fairness, actual roosters were _super_ mad about that. I hear the actor was a raven in whitefeathers. But it was a different era, that would never fly today. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/23 "2020-06-25T16:49:42Z")
American actor, Billy Campbell, plays the role of a Canadian cop, John Cardinal in the Canadian TV series “Cardinal”. Guess he should get beaten up for that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/24 "2020-06-25T16:50:21Z")
Robert Downey Jr. did that accent _and_ was in blackface for _Tropic Thunder_, but it was part of the meta gag, so I for one am OK with it - but many people weren’t and probably still aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/25 "2020-06-25T16:53:04Z")
Whats the difference between RDjr playing an Aussie and Russel Crow playing an American?? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/26 "2020-06-25T16:55:00Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > Complaining about virtue signalling is virtue signalling. If that were true, then complaining about complaining about virtue signalling would also be virtue signalling. But it’s not true. I don’t have a strong view on whether the accusation of virtue signalling is justified in this case, but the accusation is that we’re seeing excessive self-aggrandizing posturing in favor of a socially progressive position, rather than anything of real substance. Darren\_Garrison may be wrong, but I see no equivalent pretense of virtue in his making the accusation. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/27 "2020-06-25T16:55:23Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Whats the difference between RDjr playing an Aussie and Russel Crow playing an American?? Is that the setup for a joke? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/28 "2020-06-25T16:56:57Z")
Apologies. Maybe I misunderstood. I thought you infered that it was incorrect for Robert Downey Jr to play an Aussie? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/29 "2020-06-25T17:00:01Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If that were true …LOL 😃 Nobody takes accusations of “virtue signalling” seriously. That you took my reply so seriously you thought it needed a rebuttal is pretty fricking funny. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/30 "2020-06-25T17:01:55Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …LOL 😃 > Nobody takes accusations of “virtue signalling” seriously. That you took my reply so seriously you thought it needed a rebuttal is pretty fricking funny. Poe’s Law is no laughing matter. Apologize. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/31 "2020-06-25T17:02:07Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Is it just as bad the other way around? Where’s the outrage for Cree Summer voicing Inspector Gadget’s niece Penny and Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures? Seriously? You want to argue the “it’s not fair when brown people steal jobs from white people” side of the argument? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/32 "2020-06-25T17:06:26Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > If that were true > > …LOL 😃 > Nobody takes accusations of “virtue signalling” seriously. That you took my reply so seriously you thought it needed a rebuttal is pretty fricking funny. Yes, clearly in making a recursive joke I was being overly serious. But if you really think virtue signalling is _never_ a thing that actually happens, that’s also pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/33 "2020-06-25T17:06:36Z")
How do we know Penny or Elmyra are White, anyway? Unlike Missy, it’s never brought up. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/34 "2020-06-25T17:10:42Z")
Wait, is this about fairness? I thought it was about whether it was appropriate or not for a given person to voice a given role. Personally I think that there are two real issues at play here - are minorities being denied work, and is the representation less respectful-or-whatever due to the actor being the wrong race/culture. This is why it’s not a big deal that James Earl Jones voiced eventually-revealed-to-be-pasty-white Darth Vader: pasty white people are still getting work, and Jones did a decent job of aping the cultural mores of an evil space wizard. On that front, the person-I’ve-never-heard of in the OP would be justified in being worried about other actors getting work, but probably needn’t worry about misrepresenting their half-white character too much. (Though maybe they need to; I haven’t seen the show.) Oh, and what they said wasn’t virtue signaling, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/35 "2020-06-25T17:14:19Z")
I think it’s a bit over the top to call it racist on the part of the actor. The issue is more that if minorities are underrepresented in the industry through broader societal prejudice, this would be a _minimal_ step to begin to correct that. So there’s no “reverse racism” symmetry here, it’s a question of acknowledging privilege and taking steps to address it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/36 "2020-06-25T17:29:48Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > but probably needn’t worry about misrepresenting their half-white character too much. (Though maybe they need to; I haven’t seen the show.) No–if any plot element in any episode was about her race, it was too small for me to remember it (and I’ve watched all three seasons twice.) [Her issue on the show](https://bigmouth.fandom.com/wiki/Missy_Foreman-Greenwald) is with self-doubt, largely about her slow puberting and her possible pervyness. And–in new news–one of the big selling points for the new musical series _Central Park_ (if you like _Bob’s Burgers_, check it out) was having Kristen Bell voicing and singing a character. But the character is mixed race, [so now she’s out](https://people.com/tv/jenny-slate-will-no-longer-play-missy-on-big-mouth-show-to-recast-a-new-black-actor-to-play-her/). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/37 "2020-06-25T17:37:06Z")
Kristen Bell isn’t out, she’s going to play a different character. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/38 "2020-06-25T17:53:30Z")
Underneath all of this is the discussion of “What is acting?” Moreso, what is acceptable for an actor to do in portraying a character, and what is acceptable in casting a role? Back in the day (yes, slam me for referencing the past) the skill of acting involved physical and vocal adjustments. One could be called upon to portray someone from a different background, and accent work is still very common. Doing character voices and accents used to be a skill that was valued. Jenny Slate of the OP has made a bit of her career by doing [“funny voices”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU) . Meryl Streep is one example of someone who became famous for inhabiting characters with different accents. There are many other examples, some mentioned above. Today we have ideas like “cultural appropriation” and “blackface/yellowface” etc., which seem to be setting new limits. Can an actor no longer portray someone from a different background, age, nationality, sexuality? It seems we have designated race as a hard stop, with gender identity following closely behind (although Jared Leto did win an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club only a few years ago, I see us moving in the direction of that casting being unacceptable). Will we only accept casting exact matches any more? I don’t know where it will all end, but it a confusing time for actors. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/39 "2020-06-25T18:14:35Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I don’t know where it will all end, but it a confusing time for actors. Hell of a time for over-caffeinated woke liberals and drunk bigots, alike. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/40 "2020-06-25T18:49:48Z")
I’m willing to give the Simpsons a pass. It started out as a low budget show with a small cast. Hiring more actors meant more money. The same is true of Family Guy. What does bug me is hiring cis actors and actresses to play trans characters. OTTOMH Rebecca Romjin played a trans woman in Ugly Betty. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861/41 "2020-06-25T18:59:15Z")
My issue with Apu is that the furor didn’t really start until he had already become a fully fleshed out character and had been around so long that he just became Apu that I’m used to instead of Apu the living stereotype. His accent and character were cringy in the beginning but I certainly won’t let my tolerance of him change when no one else seemed to agree with me for decades. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-voicing-non-white-characters/912861.md?page=3)