The Simpsons' Harry Shearer doesn't agree that white actors can't play non-white characters

As it turns out, though, one of those white actors doesn’t completely agree with this idea. Speaking with Times Radio (via Deadline), Harry Shearer—who plays a ton of Simpsons characters, though the relevant one here is Dr. Hibbert—said that he believes an actor’s job “is to play someone who they’re not,” and that’s it. Everything else is some other person’s job, whether it’s a writer or a producer. He wouldn’t offer an opinion on whether or not he thinks the new role is a mistake, but Shearer does say that he disagrees with the “conflation” between representation and performance. He says “people from all backgrounds should be represented in the writing and producing ends of the business so they help decide what stories to tell and with what knowledge,” but the actor is just there to act and therefore shouldn’t be held responsible for diverse representation.

This all comes a few years after The Simpsons responded to the mounting controversy surrounding Apu by quietly relegating the character to backgrounds after previously offering half-hearted meta-acknowledgements. We still don’t know how the show will handle this change for non-white characters, but it’s going to require something a little more thoughtful than just Dr. Hibbert, Bumblebee Man, Lou, and Judge Snyder never speaking again.

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