Voice artist Mike Henry (who is White) has been voicing the animated Family Guy character Cleveland Brown (who is Black) for the past 20 years. Henry announced in June that he’s stepping away from the role as he believes “persons of color should play characters of color.”
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. pic.twitter.com/FmKasWITKT
— Mike Henry (@mikehenrybro) June 26, 2020
Fox has found his replacement in YouTube star Arif Zahir aka Azerrz, who has voiced Cleveland before… on his YouTube Channel while playing the multi-player video game Call for Duty.
In honor of Mike Henry, Arif has made a new Call for Duty: Modern Warfare video as Cleveland. See below. The reaction of the unexpected gamers is hilarious!
Arif (who has more than 6 million followers on YouTube) wrote: “To Mike, you created something truly special and I promise I will do my absolute best to honor your legacy.”
Arif will make his big Family Guy debut on the Season 19 premiere which will begin in 2021.
