Boondocks, animated...

Okay, I am officially furious. They go to all the trouble of bringing Aaron McGrduer's fabulous creation, Boondocks, to life, they render it gorgeously in an anime style art, they even push the release back a month just to make sure everything is perfect. Then they cast Regina King as the voice of Huey P. Freeman. What are these idiots thinking?


Okay, fine they want to cast her for Riley, no problem. Riley is kind of a punk anyway. But Huey is a kid with ideas, with insight. His voice should ring with authority. Okay, he is kid; you can't exactly give his voice a Barry White-esque baritone. But Huey's voice should have the power and rich tone of a male African American voice, speaking proper English, with just a hint of a street accent. Like a younger Sidney Potier, only without the island lilt.

Who cast this f-in' show? Did Aaron M. get actor approval? Because I can not believe that when he hears Huey talking in his head as he draws him, that the wispy, whiny voice that Regina King is throwing out there is what knocks around between his ears. It certainly isn't what I hear when I read the strip, which I do daily, by the way.

You can not tell me that they searched far and wide, listened to every black actor within a thousand miles of the recording studio, (and you can bet that every black actor within a thousand miles would have shown up to audition for this project) and the best they could do was Regina King? Please!

You know, I kind of shrug a shoulder now at the way TV treats black people, black men in particular. It either makes them into ridiculous figures, or makes them go away all together. Finesse Mitchell and Kennan Thompson toil away in bit parts or dresses week in and week out on SNL. I think I saw more of Aries Spears's and Orlando Jones's legs on MAD TV than I did Nicole Sullivan or Debra Williams. And I am sorry, you can't tell me that in ten years, the cast of Friends only met one black person, Aisha Tyler? In Manhattan?

So fine, the Cosby years are way over in TV Land...I can live with that. Just barely. But in an animated show, the powers that be can't do justice to smart, savvy, young black male character, by giving him a smart, savvy, young black male voice? This is complete and utter bullshit.