Alison Brie, one of the voice talents for Netflix’s BoJack Horseman, has announced that she regrets playing her Vietnamese-American character. Brie’s comments come amid announcements from other white actors who voice minority characters choosing to step away from their roles.
Most notably, the voice actor for the character of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy, a show which is still on-going, has stepped down from his position so that the showrunners can accurately recast the role.
Many of these actors, including Brie, have stated how important it is to accurately represent these communities by casting minority actors in these roles.
Brie Really Regrets It
On her Instagram, Brie wrote that she wishes she had not voiced the character of Diane Nguyen on BoJack Horseman. As a white actress, she recognizes the fact that when it comes to characters of color, they should always be voiced by people of color.
Brie also acknowledged the fact that the show missed a great opportunity to represent the Vietnamese-American community “accurately and respectively,” and she commends other voice actors who have taken a similar action in recent days.
Before Brie made this announcement on social media, BoJack Horseman‘s showrunner, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, also responded to questions on Twitter regarding the casting of the character.
In a thread, Bob-Waksberg went into detail regarding the casting of Diane and explained that his understanding of the issue has been evolving since concerns first surfaced in the early seasons of the show.
He has since come to realize why it’s not okay, and even provided a link to a previous interview he gave on the subject. Bob-Waksberg also addressed the fact that while there has been Asian writers who’ve worked for the show, they never had a Vietnamese writer for the entire six season run of BoJack Horseman and he acknowledges that was a mistake.
Hmmmphhh… What do you all think about this guys?