`We made a mistake, took our privilege for granted, and we are working hard to do better moving forward,` Kroll wrote in a Twitter post with fellow series creators Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett. `We are proud of the representation that Missy has offered cerebral, sensitive women of color, and we plan to continue that representation and further grow Missy's character as we recast a new Black actor to play her.`
One of Netflix's most successful series, Big Mouth last summer landed the streamer's biggest renewal: three additional seasons (4, 5 and 6). Season 4, which premieres this fall, already has wrapped with Slate voicing Missy. Search is underway for a new actor to voice the character starting with Season 5.
In her own statement, Slate explained her `flawed` reasoning for taking on the character.
`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 wrote. `But 'Missy' is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black actors. 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 social white supremacy, and that in me playing 'Missy', I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.`