Animation industry doing 'soul-searching' in casting of characters of color in the wake of anti-racism protests
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| Diane, a Vietnamese American character, and Bojack Horseman |
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The creator of “Bojack Horseman” admitted on Tuesday that he made a mistake casting white actress Alison Brie to voice a Vietnamese American character named Diane Ngyuen, Miami Herald reports.
The show’s sixth and final season aired in January. Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of the popular Netflix adult cartoon, discussed his “huge racist error” in a Twitter thread in response to the animated "yellow-facing" of the Diane Ngyuen character.
In the past week, responding to the racial sensitivity raised by weeks of anti-racism demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd and the systemic racism in US institutions, including the animation industry.
Bob-Waksberg admitted in the thread that he was asked about casting Brie to voice Diane early on but evaded the questions because his understanding of the issue was still evolving.
“I didn’t want to give a defensive or half-thought-out answer,” Bob-Waksberg wrote.
In 2018, nearly four years after the first season was released, Bob-Waksberg addressed the casting decision in an interview with Uproxx. He told Uproxx he knew when he was writing the pitch that Diane was going to be Vietnamese American, but that she would be “fully American.”
“Her race is barely going to play a factor and she’s just going to be a person,” the creator of the show said in 2018.
Bob-Waksberg recounted his 2018 explanation in Tuesday’s Twitter thread saying that his comments were a “very ignorant way to talk about WOC.” He said that his intent was to write an Asian American character that wasn’t defined by stereotypes, but admitted he went too far in the other direction.
“The intention behind the character is I wanted to write AWAY from stereotypes and create an Asian American character who wasn't defined solely by her race,” Bob-Waksberg wrote. “But I went too far in the other direction. We are all defined SOMEWHAT by our race! Of course we are! It is part of us!”
Bob-Waksberg also added that it was a mistake not to have hired a Vietnamese American writer to reflect on Diane’s heritage, The Independent reports. Over the course of six seasons, not a single Asian American writer was hired.
“We should have hired a Vietnamese writer, and a Vietnamese actress to play Diane - or if not that, changed the character to match who we did hire,” he wrote.
Bob-Waksberg concluded the thread by thanking people for continuing to engage him on the issue. He said he feels it is important for him to keep talking about it.
Brie also expressed regret at voicing the Vietnamese American charactoer. The 37-year-old wrote: 'In hindsight, I wish that I didn't voice the character of Diane Nguyen. I now understand that people of color, should always voice people of color.
'We missed a great opportunity to represent the Vietnamese-American community accurately and respectfully, and for that I am truly sorry.
'I applaud all those who stepped away from their voiceover roles in recent days. I have learned a lot from them."
Brie was referring to the voice actors who last week stepped away from their animated roles of characters of color. The soul searching by actors and producers of animated shows were reacting to the demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd two weeks ago in Minneapolis and the racial awareness raised by global protests calling for racial equity.
In a pair of statements shared on social media on Wednesday (June 24) within hours of one another, the white actresses — Jennie Slate and Kristen Bell, of the animated shows Big Mouth (Netflix) and Central Park (Apple TV Plus) — said their casting had contributed to the “erasure” of their black colleagues.
The show’s sixth and final season aired in January. Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of the popular Netflix adult cartoon, discussed his “huge racist error” in a Twitter thread in response to the animated "yellow-facing" of the Diane Ngyuen character.
In the past week, responding to the racial sensitivity raised by weeks of anti-racism demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd and the systemic racism in US institutions, including the animation industry.
Bob-Waksberg admitted in the thread that he was asked about casting Brie to voice Diane early on but evaded the questions because his understanding of the issue was still evolving.
“I didn’t want to give a defensive or half-thought-out answer,” Bob-Waksberg wrote.
In 2018, nearly four years after the first season was released, Bob-Waksberg addressed the casting decision in an interview with Uproxx. He told Uproxx he knew when he was writing the pitch that Diane was going to be Vietnamese American, but that she would be “fully American.”
“Her race is barely going to play a factor and she’s just going to be a person,” the creator of the show said in 2018.
Bob-Waksberg recounted his 2018 explanation in Tuesday’s Twitter thread saying that his comments were a “very ignorant way to talk about WOC.” He said that his intent was to write an Asian American character that wasn’t defined by stereotypes, but admitted he went too far in the other direction.
“The intention behind the character is I wanted to write AWAY from stereotypes and create an Asian American character who wasn't defined solely by her race,” Bob-Waksberg wrote. “But I went too far in the other direction. We are all defined SOMEWHAT by our race! Of course we are! It is part of us!”
Bob-Waksberg also added that it was a mistake not to have hired a Vietnamese American writer to reflect on Diane’s heritage, The Independent reports. Over the course of six seasons, not a single Asian American writer was hired.
“We should have hired a Vietnamese writer, and a Vietnamese actress to play Diane - or if not that, changed the character to match who we did hire,” he wrote.
Bob-Waksberg concluded the thread by thanking people for continuing to engage him on the issue. He said he feels it is important for him to keep talking about it.
Brie also expressed regret at voicing the Vietnamese American charactoer. The 37-year-old wrote: 'In hindsight, I wish that I didn't voice the character of Diane Nguyen. I now understand that people of color, should always voice people of color.
'We missed a great opportunity to represent the Vietnamese-American community accurately and respectfully, and for that I am truly sorry.
'I applaud all those who stepped away from their voiceover roles in recent days. I have learned a lot from them."
Brie was referring to the voice actors who last week stepped away from their animated roles of characters of color. The soul searching by actors and producers of animated shows were reacting to the demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd two weeks ago in Minneapolis and the racial awareness raised by global protests calling for racial equity.
In a pair of statements shared on social media on Wednesday (June 24) within hours of one another, the white actresses — Jennie Slate and Kristen Bell, of the animated shows Big Mouth (Netflix) and Central Park (Apple TV Plus) — said their casting had contributed to the “erasure” of their black colleagues.
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| White actress Jenny Slate provided the voice for Missy, a character of mixed race, in 'Big Mouth.' |
“Black characters on an animated show should be played by black people,” Slate wrote.
“Casting a mixed race character with a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race and Black American experience,” Bell wrote on Instagram.
“It’s been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years,” Henry wrote in his tweet. “I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role,” he said in his tweet.
The creators of The Simpsons, which is in its 31st season said they would no longer use white actors to voice their characters of color. Earlier this year, actor Hank Azaria said he would no longer portray Apu, an Indian American character that often resorted stereotypical behavior.
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