In the latest episode of ‘Americans Do the Funniest Things,’ it has emerged that The Simpsons is to replace the white voice actor for the character of Dr. Julius Hibbert with a black actor.
Hibbert, for those who don’t know him, is a mainstay of the show — a family doctor recognised by his white lab coat, gentle manner and signature chuckle. He is perhaps the least offensive character, despite being a Republican, a suspected morphine addict, and a member of Mensa, who revised his official position on the safety of binge eating after buying a 12 per cent stake in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, and who won’t conduct unethical procedures himself, but is more than happy to give you the number of a doctor who will.
The nonsense of all this, of course, is that we’re talking about acting – a profession that, in its essence, is about convincingly embodying another person’s experience
Over the years, The Simpsons has had an interesting relationship with racial stereotypes — often wrong-footing the assumptions of the era: a character with Hibbert’s traits would almost certainly have been cast as white in any other show.
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