Jenny Slate Leaves ‘Big Mouth’: Black Actor Should Voice Missy

Big Mouth alum Jenny Slate is exiting the Netflix series, saying her character, Missy, should be voiced by a Black actor. The comedian originally didn’t see a problem with her voicing Missy– a biracial character–since her mother is Jewish and white, like Slate.

“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,” Slate said in her post. But ‘Missy’ is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.”

Slate said she was starting to look at the “racism” is her actions, that she played a part in the “erasure of Black people.”  “I acknowledge my original reasoning was flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy…” she continued. “Ending my portrayal of ‘Missy’ is one step in a life-long process of uncovering the racism in my actions.”

Big Mouth: Missy explains a book to JessiMissy gets heated over “The Rock Of Gibraltar”.2017-10-12T05:13:51Z

Big Mouth co-creator Nick Kroll, along with Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett supported Slate’s decision. They apologized for having a white person voice a biracial character.

After thoughtful discussion with us and our Black collaborators, Jenny Slate has decided, as we wholeheartedly agree, that Missy on ‘Big Mouth’ should be voiced by a Black actor. We sincerely apologize for and regret our original decision to cast a white actor to voice a biracial character. We made a mistake, took our privilege for granted, and we’re working hard to do better moving forward. We are proud of the representation that Missy has offered cerebral, sensitive women of color, and we plan to continue that representation and further grow Missy’s character as we recast a new Black actor to play her. We thank Jenny for her decision and for creating with us an inspiring compassionate, and very human character. We look forward to being able to explore Missy’s story with even greater authenticity in the years to come.