Black Voice Actor Jayden Libran Hopes To Voice Some Of His Favorite Characters On The Simpsons

In response to the recent Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations all over the globe, many animated TV programs have said that they will no longer be using white actors to voice BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) characters in their shows.

The Simpsons have a long history of voicing BAME characters with white voice actors, but back in June, Fox spokesman Les Eisner said:

“Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.”

Since this announcement, 21 year old Jayden Libran has been working on his impressions and posting videos all over social media and fan sites, hoping that his hilarious voices would reach the right ears.

In a recent interview with BBC, Libran let everyone know he’s got what it takes. His first impression video got 30,000 views the first day — which was way more than what he expected.

He has received some contact from people who work at the Simpsons. Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and Flanders) reached out on twitter and jokingly said “You’re next in line, after Ted Cruz.”
One of the original writers also reached out and said that they were forwarding the viral video to the current producers of the show.

When asked what it would mean to him to be cast on the show, Libran responded:

“It would be so life-changing for me and for many actors of Color, to see that some of there favorite characters, and most iconic characters, are being voiced by people of Color. Its not a problem for people of different ethnicities to voice other cultures, that’s part of acting, but what is a problem is when you have an industry that has been largely white male dominated for decades and when you have characters with a different background, with a different religion, with a different skin color and you have no idea what that experience is like, it kind of plays off as a stereotype.”

Source:
BBC