Kristen Bell Steps Down As “Molly” For AppleTV+’s “Central Park”

Kristen Bell has stepped down as the voice of “Molly” for AppleTV+’s Central Park. The show’s second season will kick off with Kristen’s original role recast, but she will continue on in the series as a new character should the show get picked up for additional seasons. In a statement:

This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity. Here is one of mine. Playing the character of Molly on Central Park shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege. Casting a mixed race character with a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race and Black American experience. It was wrong and we, on the Central Park team, are pledging to make it right. I am happy to relinquish this role to someone who can give a much more accurate portrayal and I will commit to learning, growing and doing my part for equality and inclusion.

This comes off the heels of Jenny Slate doing the same for Netflix’s Big Mouth as the role of “Missy”. In both cases, the actors are relinquishing their roles in hopes of casting black actors for biracial roles.

Our Take

Watch out! Stanley Tucci might be next! Social justice warriors don’t like it when you swap genders in voice roles, neither, despite the fact that the practice has been in place since the 1950s with such popular examples being Nancy Cartwright as “Bart” and John Roberts as “Louise”.

Synopsis:

Told through the eyes of a busker named Birdie, the musical series tells the story of the Tillerman-Hunter family who live in Edendale Castle in Central Park. Patriarch Owen, who is the dorky manager of the park, his wife Paige, who is a journalist constantly stuck with writing fluff pieces and hopes to write a real story, their daughter Molly, who loves drawing comics about herself and a boy she has a crush on, and their son Cole, an emotional young boy who loves animals. Their lives change when an elderly heiress and entrepreneur named Bitsy Brandenham, and her constantly abused assistant Helen, plot to buy up all the land in Central Park and turn it into more condominiums, shopping stores and restaurants as a way of getting back at the world. The Tillermans must also deal with their own issues and save the park.

Central Park is an American musical animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith, and Josh Gad for Apple TV+, originally created for the Fox Broadcasting Company.