The Simpsons’ announcement comes as numerous streaming services have pulled down episodes of popular shows like 30 Rock that contain examples of blackface, and after other white voice actors announced they would stop voicing their non-white characters, including Jenny Slate from Netflix’s Big Mouth.
In a statement, Fox announced that “moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.”
The entire main Simpsons cast is white, which would mean the show would have to bring in new actors to voice these characters (or other non-white characters) in the future.
Apu is hardly the only non-white character on The Simpsons voiced by a white actor, though — or at least he wasn’t until today.