Jenny Slate exits Big Mouth to make room for Black actor to voice Missy

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Coming from real-life best friends Nick Kroll (Kroll Show) and Andrew Goldberg (Family Guy), Big Mouth is an animated Netflix series about the glorious nightmare that is teenage puberty, complete with the awkwardness of growing up, nocturnal emissions, burgeoning sexuality, and uncomfortable genitals. Jenny Slate voices Missy, one of the main characters on the series, but she announced today that she would be stepping down from the role in order to make room for a Black actor to voice the character instead.

"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 wrote in an Instagram post. "But ‘Missy’ is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people." By choosing to play the character of Missy, Slate said that she was "engaging in an act of erasure of Black people." Big Mouth creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett supported Slate in her decision in their own statement, saying, "We sincerely apologize for and regret our original decision to cast a white actor to voice a biracial character." The plan is to recast the role with a Black actor, but it's been said that production on the fourth season of Big Mouth has already wrapped, which means that we might not hear the new Missy until season five. Kroll, Goldberg, Levin, and Flackett added, "We look forward to being able to explore Missy’s story with even greater authenticity in the years to come." You can check out the full statements from both parties below.

While Netflix hasn't yet revealed when the fourth season of Big Mouth will debut, the last three seasons have typically debuted in September/October. Netflix renewed Big Mouth for three more seasons last year, which means that the animated series will last at least six seasons. Any suggestions on who should take over voicing Missy for future seasons of Big Mouth?