Fox has found the new voice of “Family Guy’s” Cleveland Brown. Voice actor Arif Zahir will be taking over the role from Mike Henry, who said in June he would be stepping down from the part, series creator Seth MacFarlane and showrunners Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin said Friday.
“I love this character, but persons of color should play characters of color,” Henry, the longtime voice of the fan-favorite Black character, said at the time, as Fox announced it would no longer have white actors voice people of color on its shows.
Henry will remain the voice of Cleveland for the Fox animated series’ upcoming 18th season, which has already completed all of its episodes and airs its premiere Sunday.