Jenny Slate quits role as Missy on Big Mouth: ‘I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people’

'I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed,' actor said

Jenny Slate has quit the role of Missy on the Netflix cartoon Big Mouth, because the character is black while Slate is white.

The actor and comedian explained her decision to leave the role, which she has had since 2017, on her Instagram. “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,” she wrote.

Slate continued: “But Missy is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.

The 38-year-old went onto admit that “white privilege” was the reason she had thought it was acceptable to take on the role of Missy.

“I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed… that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing Missy, I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.”

She continued: “Ending the portrayal of Missy is one step in a life-long process of uncovering the racism in my actions.”

“As I look back on the nature and emergences of my own voice in comedy, I know that I have made mistakes along the way.”

Slate pledged to take responsibility for her past mistakes and to fight to dismantle systemic racism.

She wrote: “I can’t change the past but I can take accountability for my choices. I will continue to engage in meaningful anti-racist action, to be thoughtful about the messages in my work, to be curious and open to feedback, and to do my best to take responsibility for the ways that I am a part of the problem.”

In a similar move, Kristen Bell has also exited the role of a mixed-race character on Apple TV+’s animated comedy Central Park, less than a month after the show’s release.