Who is Ayo Edebiri? The actress who voices Missy on Big Mouth
Actress, comedian, and writer Ayo Edebiri has joined the cast of the Netflix animated series Big Mouth.
She takes over the role of Missy from Jenny Slate, who quit the show after writing "Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people."
Who is Ayo Edebiri?
Ayo Edebiri voices Missy Foreman-Greenwald, one of the main characters on the Netflix show Big Mouth.
Edebiri made her debut as Missy late in season four, which dropped on the streaming site on December 4, 2020.
Netflix signed a three-season deal for Big Mouth in 2019 with Edibiri continuing to voice the character, Missy.
All ten episodes of season five will premiere on Netflix on November 5, 2021.
Edibiri was originally supposed to take over the role from Slate at the start of season five, but showrunners decided to move up the timetable, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The 26-year-old has appeared in several television shows, including Sunnyside and Cicada.
What is Big Mouth?
Big Mouth is an animated show on Netflix created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett.
It follows lead characters Jessi, Andrew, and Nick as they navigate their way through their awkward pubescent years.
The three best friends and their schoolmates are challenged with issues like dating, sexuality, and porn addiction.
Season five is expected to introduce new characters and will introduce comedian Ali Wong to the cast.
This season will introduce romance, love, and hate according to the series creator, Nick Kroll.
"They're at that age where you start to have kids falling in love with each other and having crushes," Kroll told Independent.
"As we kept talking about love and hate, we realized it felt very resonant to us all right now. Even if you're not an adolescent kid with massive heartbreak, you can understand those feelings just because of where we are culturally."
The comedy series is rated MA for its profanity and sometimes lewd content.
What does Edebiri say about her character?
Edebiri, also a writer for the show, told The LA Times that she is looking forward to exploring Missy's racial identity.
“I’ve always found Missy funny and weird, and it was cool to get to be a writer for a season where we were uncovering her as a character even more and giving her a lot of fun things to do,” she told the newspaper.
“[Season] 4 is a really great start, I think, to the beginning of what Missy’s journey is going to be like discovering not just her blackness but herself.”
She added: "I’ve always appreciated and related to Missy.
"I don’t think I was a bucktoothed kid who wrote joint fan fiction with my friends and took Latin for fun, so I think you can draw whatever parallels you want to from that.
"There was also a period of my education where I went to [predominantly white institutions], and I think similarly to Missy I had to reckon with discovering myself in that context."
Why did Jenny Slate quit?
Slate took to Instagram to post a message to her followers detailing the reason behind her departure.
"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."
"But 'Missy' is also Black, and black characters on an animated show should be played by black people," she wrote.
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"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 societal white supremacy, and that in me playing 'Missy,' I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.
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Slate accepted responsibility and apologized for her actions, writing that she was "so very sorry" and that "Black voices must be heard."
"I can't change the past, but I can take accountability for my choices."
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