Jenny Slate Exits ‘Big Mouth’: ‘Black Characters Should Be Played by Black People’

Joe Otterson TV ReporterHBO Max has given a series commitment to a drama set in the Gotham police department from Matt Reeves and Terrence Winter, Variety has learned.The untitled series will be set in the world Reeves is creating for the feature film “The Batman,” with the intent being to launch a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. It is said to build on the film’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City.

Within days in late June, four animated TV shows that featured white actors voicing characters of color pledged to make changes, all with the actors' support. Netflix's Big Mouth creators said June 24 that they would cast a Black actor for the role of Missy, currently performed by Jenny Slate, while Apple TV+'s Central Park creative team said it will recast biracial character Molly, voiced by Kristen Bell.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterShowtime is developing a limited series about entertainment icon and activist Lena Horne.The series is currently titled “Blackbird: Lena Horne and America,” named for Horne’s favorite poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” Jenny Lumet, Horne’s granddaughter, will co-write the first few episodes of the series with Alex Kurtzman, with both also executive producing.The series will span 60 years of Horne’s life, from dancing at the Cotton Club when she was 16,

Joe Otterson TV ReporterA reboot of “The Wonder Years” has landed a pilot production commitment at ABC.The new half-hour comedy series would focus on how a black middle class family in Montgomery, Alabama in the turbulent late 1960’s made sure it was The Wonder Years for them too.  That puts the new show in the same time period as the original series, which was set between 1968 and 1973. A mini writer’s room for the show will be opened once ABC approves a pilot script.Saladin K.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMatthew Weiner has a new series in the works.Variety has learned exclusively from sources that the “Mad Men” creator is developing a half-hour series at FX. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the series is being described as a mystery dramedy.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“The Batman” director Matt Reeves is expanding his relationship with Warner Bros.Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production company have signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterChris Parnell is leaving Sony Pictures Television Studios, where he most recently served as co-president alongside Jason Clodfelter.Parnell will join Apple TV Plus in a senior programming role on the domestic development team, reporting to Matt Cherniss, Apple’s head of scripted development and current programming.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAnother of “Normal People” author Sally Rooney’s books is set to get the series treatment at Hulu.The streamer has given a straight-to-series order to “Conversations with Friends,” which will be based on Rooney’s debut novel of the same name.The series will consist of 12 half-hour episodes.

Central Park, cosigned a statement by the animated series announcing that Bell would no longer voice the role. However, Bell will apparently remain on the show as a new character. “This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity,” to the statement in her caption.

Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell might’ve garnered online praise after stepping down from voicing biracial TV characters this week amid accusations of whitewashing.

Big Mouth actor Jenny Slate has announced that she’ll no longer be voicing biracial character Missy in the Netflix cartoon.After playing the character for three seasons since the show first aired back in 2017, Slate has decided to step down from the role in favour of a Black actor.“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,” Slate said in a statement on Instagram. “But Missy is also Black, and Black

black and black characters should be played by black people.

Jenny Slate has quit cult animated show Big Mouth, because her character is supposed to be biracial.

Jenny Slate is stepping away from .The 38-year-old actress revealed via Instagram on Wednesday that she will no longer be voicing Missy, as the character from the animated Netflix series is biracial, and she is white.«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. But 'Missy' is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people,» she said.

Slate wrote on Instagram. “But ‘Missy’ is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.”“As I look back on the nature and emergence of my own voice in comedy, I know that I have made mistakes along the way,” Slate continued.

Jenny Slate, who has voiced the character of Missy Foreman-Greenwald since the 2017 Netflix debut of Big Mouth, has decided to leave the series to make room for a Black actor to join the show.“I have come to the decision today that I can no longer play the character of ‘Missy’ on the animated TV show Big Mouth.

Nick Kroll is making some changes to the “Big Mouth” cast.