Jenny Slate exits Big Mouth: "Black characters should be played by Black people"

Amid the comedy industry’s current reckoning with its treatment of the Black community, comedian and actress Jenny Slate has exited Netflix’s Big Mouth where she played a biracial character. For four seasons (the latest of which has not premiered yet), Slate was the voice of Missy, a precocious Bridgeton Middle School student who is half Black and half Jewish. The actress took to her social media pages to explain her choice to leave the show.
“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. But ‘Missy’ is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.” Big Mouth co-creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett followed Slate’s announcement with a statement of support and apology on behalf of the series’ creative team: