Should Voice Actors ONLY Play Their Race? 

What do you think about voice actors playing their race?

I agree, any actor can play any role as long as their voice fits well with that role. What the industry needs is to be more open in casting voice actors of different backgrounds and not type casting them just for their race, gender, age or sexuality. Now there maybe times where a role maybe more suit for a particular actor based on their background but I think that usually applies for more story driven shows.

It shouldn't be a requirement but it can really help when you want to go for a specific feel or portrayal. A good example is Craig of the Creek. The actors for Craig and his family, who are African American, fit their characters' race and cultural background. This is important because African American culture and behavior is present in the various ways Craig and his family interact with others. There are more examples in the show such as an episode where Craig visits a Filipino friend's house and another where two Latino girls interact with each other. All were played by people who matched their respective ethnicities and it gave the performances a truly authentic feel.

Other Black voice actors I forgot to mention are Tiana Camacho, Belsheber Rusape jr, Cree summer, Khary Payton, Kimberly Brooks, Sydney Mikayla.

As a poc, I don't care if the characters va is the same color as them or not. When I watch anime/cartoons I never gave a thought if the va is the same race because to me that doesn't matter only their performance.

I only think race based casting is needed when the culture of a character requires a specific race. I don't really think any race should be what gets a character casted generally, what I really want is just a diverse cast of actors in the recording booth, whether they play someone who is their race, isn't their race, or someone who isn't even human.

As a poc, it doesn't matter to me if someone outside the character's race voices them. As long as they could bring the character to life without falling into any offensive territory, then why not? We don't actually go looking out for real-life aliens to voice non-human characters, so voice acting should be accesible to anyone.

I honestly don’t mind this issue and I’m all for having more POC voice actors (Black, Latino, Indian) voice more characters be it Pre-Lay animation or Anime dubs. As for non-POC voice actors voicing a dark skinned character or a non-human I don’t mind as long as the performance matters and that the voice used on a character isn’t a stereotype and that the character doesn’t look like a Black Person (e.g. Ray Chase voicing Black characters in Hunter x Hunter and Carole & Tuesday). Now only if the actors and voice actors who aren't Black or POC have resigned and made the decision to not voice their animated roles allowing for another actor/actress of the right ethnicity to take over is also perfectly alright.

If the voice actor is respectful as their character in a role, then it’s no harm and that’s that. Definitely if it’s a character that’s race is important to a story in general I would prefer them to be played by the race the characters are. But again other than that I don’t care about different race people playing someone of a diff race. Hopefully in the future tho there will b a lot more people of different ethnicities open to voice acting AND be great at it 😎✨

I feel the same way about this as I do about "only queer actors should play queer roles": the problem is the lack of opportunities for marginalized actors. No one really cares about a voice actor's race so long as theyre not playing up a stereotype, but if the only role Black voice actors can get is playing Black characters its pretty fcked up when that ALSO goes to a white VA.

So alot of cards on the table. I am White and not well verse on black culture, but I worked with people from several backgrounds but my experiences been with more with white people. The idea of "Black characters should more be voice by Black VA when the character is more in black culture" is honestly something that i havent thought of before but it feels very true or a point that feels like it has weight. I also feel part of the point you are making is that it be nice to see more black characters that share the live experience of black culture. Like seeing Black writers telling their stories instead of white people more choosing the stories that are told because of white guilty or other factors. Second and reason i made the comment. The way the whole BLM and Defund the police feel like it lost it way or was more hijack by the system honestly makes me sad. Like the issue was to deal with how system was being flat out racist and need heavy reform, and it feels at the end of the day it feels like the system more hijack to be about showing minority groups that "hey we see you" while doing the same shit. Like Joe biden saying "defund the police means funding the police" made me feel really depress over it all. Maybe im off but its like the system trying to do damage control then caring an innocent man died.

I honestly think it's fine. Like desdar100 said, there's history of white actors playing characters of color in a racist light, but in my opinion I think that it shouldn't matter in some cases. To me, voice acting a character of another race is the same as an author writing a character of another race; it all falls on their portrayal of said characters.

Im suprise to realize that Grace Rolec isn't Indian like Connie but she did play her role so well

As a person of color, (mixed raced south african) I never minded it. But as an animator, I sort of miss the Mel Blanc/Paul Frees era of voice acting, in which there was a small team doing a lot of voices. Sure, there was a lot of voice acting during the golden Cartoon era that was bad in terms of stereotypes, but I feel like it's usually better to have a small voice acting team than one voice actor per character. I say this because I feel like because people are worried with how the audience might receive someone not of the race of the character doing the voice, so to be safe, there's a lot less instances of voice actors voicing multiple characters in shows. But in my opinion, having a small team gives a show more of an identity. Especially with South Park, hearing the creators voice many of their own characters adds to the comedy in some ways, but also gives the show a particular sound. The same goes for a lot of Webtoons I saw as a kid like Homestar runner. Knowing it was the two brothers and Missy Palmer doing all of the voices gave the show a sort of homespun quality, because it literally was. I think that's something important that not a lot of productions care about anymore. A group of voice actors should be like people in a band. They should all play well off of each other. An ideal animation industry for me, is one where there's more shows and movies, but less voice actors per shows and movies (and they are full-fledged voice actors, not celebrities doing voice acting.) Now if it's an action Anime, or something more serious in tone, I can see why more voice actors should be needed, but they still have to play well off of each other, like an ensemble. The Simpsons when it premiered had a large cast, but the voice actors shared a lot of characters, and the show had this sort of snarky, nasality sound from a vocal standpoint. However, it is true that the industry has discriminated against minorities to this day, and there needs to be more equity for people interring the industry. But my ideal vision for how this would work would be more minority voices doing shows with a smaller voicecast, but within those shows, they have a lot of Wiggleworm to mold the show's identity, and that would include voicing people outside their race, or gender or whatever. But there would be more projects greenlit, so it wouldn't make things worse for more people entering the industry. I think this is a much better solution than having legacy shows that run for ever like the Simpsons have character's voices reassigned. This doesn't work because the voice acting in the show was formed around particular sounds, and going against that would break the aesthetic. And then there's the obvious fact that The Simpsons should have ended years ago. Now, going back to characters and race, say there's a web animator who's white. They want to make a show with a diverse cast, and there's a couple black characters in it. but they can't afford to hire any voice actors, so that person may have to voice a lot or all of the characters themselves. It would be cool if their black friend could voice the character, but if that's not an option, maybe the friend is too busy or something, I would much rather they voiced the character themselves than not have any black characters. That would be the preferable option to me, instead of them whitewashing everything. Now I tell people this and they say, "Of course webtoon artist/small indie teams are exempt from this! we're just saying that big productions that can afford it, should have the race of a voice actor match that of their character." But I don't know. What if that small show gets picked up by a big studio? Or what if that show becomes popular? If it acquires any sizable fanbase, those people might try to accuse that same hypothetical white webtoon artist of being racist for not having a black person voice that character. With the way people are on twitter, you never know. Like I said earlier, It is racist to keep minorities out of voice acting, but I feel like there are ways to have characters voice outside of their race without it being racist. So to sum up, 1.There should be more minority voice actors, 2.There should be more shows, 3.There should be less voice actors per show, 4. There are ways to have a character voice someone outside of their race without being offensive.

idc what race you are. Just act good

I think some white voice actors need to read the room, and look at history. Anybody who knows about the history of animation, knows that it wasn't that long ago that characters of color were portrayed by white actors in the most minstrel way you can think of. These portrayals have been engulfed of not only americans, but any other country that got these cartoons dubbed You're effing right, that POC actors are going to get incredibly defensive about who gets casted as who. A lot of these actors just got seats at the table, and probably had to play very stereotypical roles just to even get where they are now

Although I don’t necessarily think it’s a BIG deal, if a white VA is going to voice a non-white person, they should at least be respectful and not be a walking talking stereotype. As long as they’re careful and respectful, I don’t mind

Pro-ZD Sowing vs Pro-ZD Reaping has never been a bigger debate

While I do advocate for "If the voice fits the character." I do understand the fine line, if for example: There is a black character in a series and they're rooted into their culture or have more layers about who they are, I do believe it would be beneficial to cast someone who is more inclined WITH that culture. If they are just a character that isn't so enrooted or has no connection to it, it'd be more fair game. To me, as long as the Voice Actor can...ACT and their voice works with the character, but again I can understand pinpointing certain attributes if needed.

Trust me, changing Cleveland and Missy's voice actors don't make the difference they wanted to have.

A kind of an interesting example of sort of both these ideas, allowing roles to go to people of a variety of ethnicities, while also showing respect for the culture significance of a role, happened casting in The Ghost and Molly McGee. The creators decided from the beginning that the main character Molly's ethnicity was going to be decided by whatever voice actor they selected for her. So, when actress selected for the part was half Thai and half Irish, they made Molly the same. This makes sense, because many of Molly's characteristics are pretty universal, so it did not matter what her ethnicity was, which also meant they could give representation to whoever put the work in portraying Molly. That said, while they did not make Molly's Thai heritage a defining part of her character, it is at least a noted, and they consulted in Matt Broly, Thai American creator of Amphibia, to ensure accuracy. I guess they figured if they were going to be representing a Thai American anyway, they might as well represent some of the unique aspects of a culture that is not often shown in American Media. This idea though shaping the ethnicity of your animated characters based on whose voices them is an interesting thought. As you mentioned, a lot of characters could really be played by people of any ethnicity or race. But by shaping them based of their voice actors, and maybe including bits of their culture (though not so much as to encourage fetishization or stereotyping) you can support better representation.

Algorithmic punch! Great Vid, being enjoy your Quick Thoughts, keep up the good work.

Well put.

as an animator, im fully aware of how the industry is. its reflected everywhere honestly. that white guilt opened some doors but, drew attention away from the issue at hand. like you said companies? industries? enjoy pretending there isnt enough money/creativity to go around?? AKA replacing roles and swapping actors. cutting anything they can really. its a shame. don't get me started on dubbing industry not getting the same cast bc they didn't want to hire the actors for a living wage lmao. it doesnt help that producers or people in power to greenlight things in general have no faith in new or original...anything really. I'd say just storytelling, but...its kinda everywhere lol. when the industry can thrive off of new perspectives, cultures, and ideas. giving that A list actor who has never done voicework before a voicerole is cool and all. but half the time it just looks like a name to bring in adults to a movie... :,) again im all for new ideas...but voice actors are RIGHT there....and usually never had a movie role!!! uugh!!! i love what you said about characters being played by whomever, unless their race is integral to the story. because its true. i love seeing actors. i love seeing new names and starting to recall them over new roles. i also love the idea of animation being so limitless unless you choose it to. because sometimes those boundaries are important and okay to have. anyone can play anyone if the creators really wanna tell their story like that man. the best we can do is encourage eachother. plus as an animator i get soooo giddy listening to voices, reels, clips, anything. something about literally breathing life into that character and having a voice is so exciting to me teehee. hearing inflictions, stutters, its all so real and raw sometimes.

Wendee Lee has quite the voice resume, dang that was her in Perfect Blue

My problem is with recasts, I it’s a good thing to have the POC VA play the POC character! I just don’t like it when VAs are kicked from playing characters they have been for years/are iconic as. Like jack de senta as Sokka in avatar

Lots of great points here! For alot of ppl, it's more so about "oh, so you want to add a Black/Asian/Hispanic character, but you can't even be bothered to hire and pay a Black/Asian/Hispanic actor??" Rather than about recasting ppl. Voice acting is a hard to career to break into.. for anyone! Being a non-white actor just makes it _that_ much harder. So when you won't even consider hiring a black actor to play one of your only black characters in the show, you've got a problem.

When you look at a character, you dont see the actor's face, you only hear their voice come out of the character. The fictional or adeptation of the character should be judged on what's presented. Does the voice sound like the character's design or personality fit with them? If so, then yeah it's fine. Any race should play any character as long as the personality and passion is there. Limiting people of what to play as for their outside look is already stingy with live action acting, we dont need to put that rule onto something that isnt necessary at all unless truly demanded, like if a specific characters' story is heavily influenced or attatched to a certain culture, then if you need a person like that, ok sure, as long as it fits the passion too with the role. As in dont just go for someone who is only for the role because of their skin/history, then the character will feel a bit souless or, in some words, forced. Get people who are into voice acting, feel passionate for the role and world and characters they wanna take part in. That is what matters the most, anything else would be considered a bonus.

This reminds me something. Recently I wrote a poem falled 'Black Men Never Die' which talked about racism. I remember someone telling me that a black person should be the one tl read this poem. My problem with what they said it, they made it seem like art that is directly about black people should only be handled by black people. The issue I have is art is universal, even if art is made for a specific audience that doesn't mean only the target auidence should manage it. Regardless of who reads my poem, the message is still the same. You can argue that having a black man read it will enhance the message and that's fair, however the race of speaker shouldn't be the definiting factor of what makes them a good candidate.

Not exactly, at the very least people of all races should be allowed to voice WHOMEVER they choose regardless of race/gender/etc. Now that I think about it.... That actually is ILLEGAL, voicing a specific character would be a job, and as such the employer would have to abide by the labor laws including: "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964", which forbids employers from restricting/firing ANYONE trying to get a job they apply for regardless of their gender, religion, place of origin, race or even color. Doesn't matter if you are white or black, ALL are to be treated as equals in the job being offered, given an equal chance in being employed. Forcing white people to quit their acting JOB, or asian, or black, etc. is in violation of this law, which is one of the labor laws all businesses MUST abide by. Same as if an asian person wanted to voice a black or white character, they can't be restricted from getting the job or forced to leave it. Don't believe me... Look up that law on the US Department of Labor's website, employers could possibly be SUED for violating this law. Sure it was designed to help african americans, but it works both ways and all ways. So voice actors... Keep applying to specifically voice roles of characters you don't share a race with, and just bring up this law.

phil lamar did make a very good point in a double toasted interview about the whole voice acting your race discussion.

You know what annoys me, why does nobody ever apply this argument to a VA's gender? I just think if you bring up the race argument you sould address things like a VA age, gender, and accent. In my opinion, as long as a VA isn't a criminal or hasn't been canceled they should be free to voice any character that fits there voice.

I think it matters the least in Anime given that all characters are 9/10 times meant to be Japanese. However this only applies if dubs already had diverse casts which, for now at least, isn't much of a thing.

How is “Anyone should be able to play any race” a racist thing to say? Wouldn’t that be the other way around? A lot of the characters we saw in shows back then(like Samurai Jack) were played by black voice actors. If you were to only voice a character you match racially then that will only reduce roles as let’s face it, if the media was made in America then there’s a far greater chance of the characters being white than any other race Edit: also on the point of Yoruichi(there u go throwing around the world racist again) believe it or not people can form attachments to certain voice actors and removing a VA that u like from a show tends to rub people the wrong way(also where exactly was it said that she was black? Y’all see tan skin and immediately assume black). Even if the OG VA was also black fans would still have complained as we prefer the original

I mostly agree with the take that they should match the race if the character’s race is important to their story but then again you have examples like Carl Carlson from Simpsons where his race has nothing to do with his character but they decided to tackle that in the episode “Carl Carlson Rides Again” and it’s one of the best of episodes of the whole series. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the one episode that focuses on Carl as a character after 34 years comes slightly after he gets recast with a black man. I 100% believe that episode would have never happened if Hank was still voicing him. Some characters aren’t created from the start with the intention to have race apart of their story and it comes naturally but by that point they would already be cast. Ig the actor themselves doesn’t have to be the same race but to tell stories like that with nuance and accuracy they need people who experienced it first hand to be there and matching the actor to the race as majority of the time would help reach that requirement. So not like a requirement but just something to do on average I would say is the best option.

3 and a half minutes in at the moment I agree with this take, this makes a lot of sense. For the most part voice acting is such an effective medium for broadening the scope of artistic expression because of how it *mostly* removes the need for being super selective with who is chosen for a role. On the other hand you can't just say "skin color/nationality doesn't matter because it's a cartoon" if the cartoon itself tackles a specific culture. You can't make The Boondocks without black actors, you can't make Coco without hispanic actors. On the other hand characters who's race is incidental or fictional have zero limitations and don't need to be looked into very deeply. So basically what I assume this whole video was going to say.

Voice acting should not be limited to color or gender. It's just acting nothing more

3:23 FINALLY, that iswhat i have been saying!! Also shout out to line animation ( you tube channel ) and St. Lucia

I know I've said my piece on this with last night's post, but I'd like to properly put my thoughts out here. Yes, there does need to be new talent coming in to VA, from all walks of life, and they should not be limited to playing characters that's only their race, religion, sexuality, etc. And I do agree that if directors want a more authentic voice for a deep-rooted cultural character - by all means, get them on board. But if it's a bog standard character who just so happens to be a particular race and there's nothing else to go off of, I believe those characters are fair game to anyone, no matter who they are. What I don't agree with, though, is long-time actors who have played an established character FOR YEARS suddenly not feeling ok to play those characters, when no one even cared to begin with. Voice acting should be a place for everybody to shine through their performances and hone their skills over time. That's how all the big-times made it, and we should make way for new talent to breathe life back in to the field today. No one lives forever.

To be honest I don't mind it but of course they are people that aren't going to stop plus I don't think it really matters if a person is able to voice actor it shouldn't matter about race but I do think there should be more black voice actor there a lot of animation that have different casting of people that are from different backgrounds and places

Voice actors need to have talent, it shouldn't matter what race you are they just need to be good and they need to work for the role of their character.

The race of a VA literally doesnt matter to a role. Not their race or their culture. Their is a more nuanced excuse for trying to portray different accents but even then, thats not a race or culture thing if the person can actually speak the language and have the desired accent. At the end of the day what matters and what should matter is the VOICE of the VOICE ACTOR. No one sees their face anyways so its a stupid thing to try and make a stance about. Most people dont care about the look of the VA is and only remebers them byt their voice. The only exceptions are super fans or people that actually care to know the faces behind works, but thats not general audiences. Also its FUNDAMENTALLY a hypocritical and counterproductive thing to try and enforce because this is only really being applied to white/light skinned asian people overall and is not enforced or appled to darker or brown skinned people whatsoever and is treated as racist if done to them. Maybe if they started ousting or calling for the removal of dark skinned or brown skinned people from their roles, then a conversation could happen, but its not gonna happen so thia topic needs to cease and not be a thing. If it isnt something people are gonna actually enforce or even try to, then it shouldn't exist. Also thats literally the opposite of inclusivity and the idea of "the best person for the role" amd its kinda tokenism. Only hiring a person of a specific race to play a voice cause they are that race and not cause they were the most qualified. Its also type casting and actively limits the roles of the people who are thought to "need" this. Having black VAs is fine but they shouldnt be hired cause they are black but cause they are actually qualified. Its not racist to say that

The whole point of voice acting as a profession is that you can bring alive multiple characters with your voice by changing the way you talk. There are white guys that sound like black dudes. You limit the possibilities when you put criteria to your casting. Sure if you need a character that has an accent, it's easier to get an actor that actually talks like that, but if someone else can pull it off perfectly than who are you to say no? Look at Avatar for example. It's regarded as one of the bets animated shows and people think it's important for Asians to play the characters in live action, but nobody talks about how the animated show should have had an all Asian cast. If the industry has casting problems, that should be solved by people in the industry, but limiting talent isn't the answer.

Perfect take. The Yoro thing has had this on my mind for awhile and you said it in such a way that touched almost every aspect so perfectly. Thank you. I haven't seen anyone really bring up this point before but I'm curious about your thoughts on the language aspect. Obviously in anime mixed races in the animation are primarily going to be voiced by Japanese people. I would assume it's the same situation with the Spanish French or German adapted dubs of anime as well and no one really says anything about that. (Though I would love to see the story of a black polygot traveling the world to record lines for the same animes dubbing of a character) This almost exclusively feels like an English dub issue and like you said, I'm glad it's getting better and more PoC VA's are getting that opportunity. I'm curious if you think this situation or something similar would or could happen again in the future?

So like with anime voice acting, if we are talking about race, do they ever state the race of a character like if they're black or white. don't they just take on the race of their creator, which are mostly Asian. So we aren't talking about race instead about the skin color of the character?

Honestly if a character has an accent get someone from that region!!!!! Its embarrassing when we get wannabe Jamaicans who sound cringey!!!!!!!

michiko molandro in dubbed shocked me

I’m not racist, but I’ll say it too: your race, gender, dick size, whatever; should not be what affects who can voice whichever character. If you have the voice and you understand the character, who the heck cares? This was not a problem b4, why is it one now? The ONLY exception I’ll give is like what you said in the vid, if the race (or culture) of the character is a part of the workd building or their arc or something. Think CoCo or Static Shock.

Speaking of faulty system the cop that Unalived Breonna Taylor had a new incident that resulted in the death of an innocent person just because the guys truck looked the same as a truck reported as stolen

I never heard any push back from any Japanese people when it came with Phil Lamarr voicing Samurai Jack.

Fun fact, wendee put that apology on a new unpinned post on anairis's page that was about anairis getting the role (a bit tasteless isn't it), anairis has now unpinned her yoruichi casting announcement, making wendees apology disappear from public view because wendee didn't put it on her own timeline

10:13 - That scared the f**kin' sh!t out of me. I think it's unnecessarily loud.

This was an excellent video. Not the biggest anime fan so I was not informed the issues within them

Does samurai jack's race play a part in their character? He's drenched in Japanese culture, but has a black actor. Who decides whos right for a role when it comes to race. It just seems that when people talk about voice acting outside their race its mostly been discourse about white actors playing other races, should me as a white person deny a person of a different race and culture from playing a white character? I believe ProZD has recently had trouble finding work because there making it so he can't play white guys. Maybe we sould just cut the middle man and have it so auditions don't get a face with the voice so their only hired on voice alone.

This was very well said.

My only issue it when someone is putting on an accent of another race/ethnicity but in a stereotypical way. Like Garterbelt from panty and stocking. The va is essentially using a bit exaggerated blaccent.

Personally, I would say that it depends on the context. Yes, voice actors don’t necessarily have to be the same race as the characters they voice, but I think it becomes a problem when it keeps marginalized groups from acting in their own stories. What I mean by that is that if the story deals with sensitive topics such as bigotry and discrimination against said group, the character’s voice actor should match their race. For example, if the story revolves around the racism that black people face, it would be kinda tone deaf to have the black character voiced by a white person.

This has to do with Sung Won Cho, does it?

I understand why people would have an issue with a white voice actor voicing a person of color, but I think sometimes it depends on what kind of character they’re voicing. Or if the character’s race plays a big part in the story or that person’s personality. But I think some cases aren’t as serious. And is it ok for the reverse of a black person or any person of color voices a white person or a character that’s a different race than the voice actor? Cree summer voiced Elmyra in tiny toons but is there a problem with that? I genuinely am curious. I would like to think that whoever voices a character it was because they had the best performance regardless of their race.

I disagree with the authentic argument. Riley and Huey were both voiced by a black woman (Regina King) and the Bondocks dealt with racism. Do people think it would be better if they were voiced by men or boys?

I think as long as the voice acting is actually good, it shouldn't matter much. What does matter is when the voice acting is not good (think celebrities being hired just for their name) AND then it becomes insulting that they were chosen over a good VA... I don't think it should be strict as to what race can voice what race as long as: -every voice actor is being considered equally and based only on merits/talent (looking at you random celebs that get the job to boost sales...) -the VA gig in general is not meant to be insulting, demeaning, etc -the voice actor chosen is actually good...

While I DO see this as mildly problematic, mainly for the fact this will keep experienced voice actors from diversifying their roles. As I recall correctly, people gave Seth MacFarlane a hard time for having characters of color being voiced by white people

In some dubs the VA will have input int the translation and there will be a bit of improv. In those cases I feel like it’s more telling when the casted VA has a similar background to their character. Like SK8’s dub was as hilarious as it was because the dub VAs were queer.

Exactly! I heard a guy on here say that there’s lots of pieces of trash out there in the comics and animation community that live to whine about this stuff but screw them. They are racist to the core and it doesn’t matter what you do, their job is to amplify their WS BS to a wider audience. That is 100% true and I’ve seen it first hand. I agree with your sentiments. If the character’s racial identity is central to the story and show, it makes sense to cast people who have that direct experience to deliver a more authentic performance. That’s why idiotic channels like Clownfish / Clodfish TV exist.

I have always just thought of voice acting as people playing pretend so it was restrictive to decide who could pretend to be what. I definitely think the culture and portrayal is more important now. When it comes to dubs with all of the languages and cultures it probably becomes more complicated for the production company. I don't have any love for the corp. But they probably aren't going to put in the extra effort across all of those languages. It should be a priority for all productions. The corpos just don't care to make it happen in all regions and its about the bottom line. If we could do better on the English it might help, but I don't see Japanese studios going out of their way to incorporate this in the original or caring about the other regions afterwards. Keep making great content!

I am less concerned about the lack of black voice actors doing black characters and more about the lack of black writers, producers, and executives

Dr. Hibert being voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson is strange because Kevin Michael Richardson (so cool how his name has "say the whole thing" status) is so recognized and well known to fans of the animation and voice acting industry. They were better off replacing him with new talent, or not at all.

Yeah... if this is how fictional characters going to be, I'm going to use my own voice and modify it and use AI to voice act my own productions. I don't want to work with people who are going to be entitled and are hard to work with, especially if it's with voice acting. Craig of the Creek may be one example of many and that's what makes it unique, but it doesn't mean every studio should copy it. The show found it's niche and makes it click, making it look authentic. Though that may be the case, not every race that is represented there is going to have the same experiences with some of the real life counterpart. In the, it's a story, a fun illusion that happens to have relatable characters and experiences took from real life. That's what a story is, fake scenarios made true and authentic with the writer's heart and experience.

I think it matters to have a voice actor embody that role. The characters feel more authentic when the actor feels more connected. Stories should be written with the race or culture in mind. Especially if the characters are humans. Now if it an alien or magical creature by all means go ahead, but white voice actors and white actors are the default. So the writers (likely also white) write what they think characters of color sound/talk like. They may do some research or they may go off of what they know and what informs them. Having a characters and voice actors that can pour that life experience into their performance often has a better performance at least from the media I've consumed. Having writers who can more readily reflect that exprience is just as important. I think the gesture of changing voice actors was nice and probably well intentioned, but ultimately people don't like change

15:42 No, not for when he voices someone like Kamek.

Yeah and the unintended consequence of this mindset make it so that non whites have to voice their race and only their race. So now you can't voice anything that isn't your race or non human :/ Also keep in mind Yoruichi WAS VOICED BY A JAPANESE WOMAN originally. Her ethnicity is not very clear. She could be Filipino or from the islands

14:27 instead of trying to be innovative with the black VA, they just replaced the roles of other VA with the black VA? Is it really that hard to find other new character roles?!

I will just say this whole situation has ruined a few of my favourite animes dubs due to Wendee Lee's actions. Just as bad as Mignona turning me off rewatching FMA dub cuz of his creepiness. Also i'm for casting more nonwhite voice actors overall as if they don't start casting more, we won't have a chance to see more castings that are great or just fit in general and it'll still just be as pasty as me.

A bit of a weird thing I notice is that, if a show like, say, OK K.O. Let's Be Heroes would be airing nowadays, people would complain about K.O. and Carol being voiced by white actors despite their characters being POC, or if Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil would be airing now, people would complain that Marco is a white actor playing a sort of Latino character. They all got through unscathed. No criticism here, just thought it'd be interesting to note that.

My take? Voice acting? Absolutely never. Live action acting? Depends on whether you prioritize complete ethnic accuracy to the source material (Ex: Snow White in a hypothetical live action movie) or the personality/acting of the character (Ex: Nick Fury in Avengers). Edit: Bro just said anybody who believes race of the VA doesn’t matter for a character is a racist 💀 I can’t continue to watch the rest of the video if he believes that…

I've always felt that it doesn't really matter what ethnicity a VA is and, as an Indian-American myself, it feels that sometimes focusing on matching the races can imply that people of the same race all sound a "particular way." But if a character of color has an accent associated with that race, you should not at all have a white person playing that character because that can get stereotypical and offensive real quick. As I've gotten older and have learned a little more about the voice acting industry, I do think that matching the race can work as an imperfect solution to giving more opportunities to VAs of color, but for the most part, I just think it's nice to do that, and I do appreciate when it's done, but it's not strictly necessary.

No. It's called acting. It ridiculous to say x has to play x or y has to play y. It should be the best person for the role- in the 80s Arthur Burkhard (I spelled his name wrong) played Destro.

If the original voice actor either choose not to or were unable to voice the character, would the weirdo/r@cists still be mad at the "diversity hire" voice actor?

Personally i never thought about it until actors got replaced. I dont really care who voices who cause it is acting but i understand its taking a job from a minority

Tbh I feel like what muddies the water for these sorts of things is when it comes to foreign dubbing. If we were strict on the idea that only VAs of their race can play characters of their race, that would get complicated quickly when it comes to anime and how 90% of the characters would be Japanese. Tbc I'm not criticizing the attempts at representation, it just feels like something we don't often mention in this discussion

Love you keep calling us racist jackasses. I am against hypocrisy. Voice acting is which voice fits the best. Maybe the people complaining about the voice change was standing up for the original voice actress. She lost the role due to the color of her skin, but we should feel bad for the replacement. She took a role by having it ripped away from someone due to race. Oh, fyi I am Latina.

Short answer no

You should either be consistent with it or not do it. There's better ways to have more opportunities for non-white voice actors, like having a diverse voice cast, restricting people to only voicing characters of their race is honestly backwards and racist. Let white actors voice non-white characters AND let black actors voice white characters. Why restrict it? It's dumb at best, racist at worst. The reason I'm saying it should be consistent is because all this "characters should be voiced by their same colour actors" breaks down when it comes to anime dubbing. The characters are all JAPANESE. And how many of them are voiced by Asian, let alone Japanese voice actors? That's right, almost none.

You lost me when you said that the only people against VA changes are racists. I hate when any character that has been well-established is recast. Ash from Pokemon comes to mind. Part of your take is honestly a bit disingenuous.

Speaking as a white European (a Romanian) who never step foot in America, I've been feeling ambivalent on the color of voice actors. On the one hand, people of color have at a major role in animation as actors, but on the other the internet has launched a platform where the history of the casting has been overshadowed. And if the racists who did not like Yoruichi's recast stand by their stance, than Viz Media should also reevaluate the fact that race in anime rarely has had any significance. For example, why are Britannians from Code Geass abusing the Japanese? All characters in the anime look the same in this animation culture of green hared, turquoise-bug-eyed designs. For that matter, why aren't only Japanese actors hired for the dub industry when most anime characters are Japanese? The waters are murky on this topic for simple race swaps to be made.

I hate the idea of play of the role the race you are its stupid whoever the best fit the role of characters.

5:57 "But sadly, anime fans show their ass a lot..." I kind of wish I could take this sound clip, and really tack it on to a lot of different things that have happened over the past several years, because it's the kind of context needed. - New fans joining a long established anime fan base? Insert sound clip. - Someone didn't cosplay 100% faithfully a character at a recent massive con? Insert sound clip. - Superman beats Goku in Death Battle? Insert sound clip. I say this as an anime fan, myself. Some of y'all need some help.

Here is my stance: Can you perform a character outside of your ethnicity and, it not sound like a racist parody? Yes. Maybe you can get the part. No. Then stand a side and, let that race play the character.

Most of the people who have nuanced positions and aren’t racist are smart enough to keep their mouths shut because they know how easy it is to be misunderstood as racist in the public space unless you really know someone.

Bring back Anairis Quinones for Yoruichi! Screw all the racists who don't give a crap about dubs and just want to harass a black woman in the spotlight. Wendee burned her bridge for me, and frankly i'd be down if her voice was changed in the dub of my favourite anime 'Planetes' for another black woman character she played, Fee Carmichael, which would frankly be even better cuz she actually is explicitely a black woman, not just a shape shifting catgirl of ambiguous race who's brown skinned.

Them switching back Yoruichi’s voice actor wasn’t kowtowing to racist, it’s then listening to the fans and correcting a mistake. Saying she lost the role because of racist reasons really only applies to the first actress who lost it and was originally replaced.

Maybe they could cast Anairis Quiñones in another role like they did in the Clone High reboot. It would be slightly frustrating since it's not the same character but at least her voice gets to be on screen. Cleo was recast as Mitra Jouhari and a new character was made for Christa Miller.

this is such a stupid take

8:20 No you didn't establish the role Satsuki Yukino did. You are another actress who got to play her.

No but yall complained that white people were playing black characters and ruined the entire voice acting sphere.