Family Guy Recasts Cleveland Brown With Impersonator Arif Zahir
YouTube comedian Arif Zahir has been announced as the new voice of Family Guy's Cleveland Brown, taking over the role from Mike Henry. The long-running satirical cartoon about suburban family life was just picked up for seasons 19 and 20 on Fox after over two decades on the air.
In June, voice actor Mike Henry announced he was stepping down from the role of Cleveland Brown, a Black character on the show who starred in his own four-season spinoff, The Cleveland Show, from 2007-2013. The resignation came amid recent debate about whether white actors should play animated characters of color, a common practice in the business that has occasionally resulted in damaging stereotypes and hack impressions. A wave of high-profile resignations followed, including Jenny Slate from the role of Missy on Big Mouth and Kristen Bell from HBO's new Central Park.
Seth MacFarlane, Family Guy's creator and now executive producer, and current showrunners Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin announced to Variety today that Zahir will replace Henry in the role of Cleveland from season 19 onward (season 18 has already been recorded and will premiere this Sunday). Zahir gained a following posting spot-on impressions of politicians, musicians, and TV characters including Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Pennywise the killer clown under the username "Azerrz." When he heard the news about Henry's departure, Zahir lobbied for the role in a TikTok where he nails an impression of Cleveland, which he reposted to Twitter and tagged Henry.
Zahir said he was sad to learn Henry would no longer be providing the voice for Cleveland, his "favorite cartoon character of all time," worried that the character might get written off the show entirely. After twenty years, Family Guy has become a TV institution, and it might have been easier for the showrunners to simply get rid of a character viewers know and love rather than attempt to recast him (as Family Guy has done in the past). For his part, Zahir is grateful for the opportunity to take up the mantle:
To Mike, you created something truly special and I promise I will do my absolute best to honor your legacy. To Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin and Seth MacFarlane, thank you for this incredible gift. And to the millions of fans who love this show, I promise not to let you down.
Henry approves of his replacement and says Zahir's talent and respect for the role make him the right guy for the job. While Henry departed the show with a tweet recognizing that "persons of color should play characters of color," the creators may have been mindful of respecting his legacy bringing Cleveland and other characters to life over two decades. Appealing to Henry first was a classy move on Zahir's part, and the comedian has made it clear he's interested in preserving Cleveland's legacy. From a practical perspective, the character has existed for so long that radically changing his voice and characteristics would be a trickier change to pull off than, for example, Missy's evolving on Big Mouth, a relatively new show whose main characters are incidentally going through puberty.
MacFarlane may have also noticed that Zahir impersonated a number of other Family Guy characters, among them Stewie Griffin and old man John Herbert, before lobbying for a part on the show and is clearly a fan. Zahir has demonstrated not just his ability to emulate another actor's choices for a role but also his versatility as a voice actor, which may come in handy in the future as a cast member on a show that often has actors play multiple roles.
Source: Variety