‘Family Guy’ Star Mike Henry Says He Will No Longer Play Cleveland Brown

Family Guy, Cleveland Brown

Family Guy star Mike Henry, who has played the character of Cleveland Brown for two decades, has announced that he will be stepping down from the role.

Cleveland is a friend and neighbour of central character Peter Griffin, and is frequently called upon to be the voice of reason. He also had his own spin-off, which lasted four seasons.

The voice actor, who first played the role all the way back in 1999, took to Twitter today to make his announcement, writing:

“It’s been an honor to play Cleveland on Family Guy for 20 years. I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color. Therefore, I will be stepping down from the role.”

Mike Henry has also provided the voice of Consuela, the maid, on the long-running show, and has featured in various other Seth MacFarlane series, including American Dad!, The Orville and The Cleveland Show.

Family Guy is one of numerous animated series that have seen an actor step down due to concerns about voicing a person of colour. Earlier this week, Jenny Slate announced that she would no longer portray the biracial Missy on the Netflix show Big Mouth.

Kristen Bell also stepped down from a similar role in the musical comedy Central Park, while earlier this year, Hank Azaria announced that he would no longer voice the Indian character of Apu on The Simpsons.

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