Shearer out, Richardson in as Dr. Hibbert on 'The Simpsons'

Harry Shearer will no longer voice the African-American character Dr. Hibbert on "The Simpsons," with Black actor Kevin Michael Richardson, already a regular on the show, taking over.

Fox confirmed to Newsday that Richardson, 56, a prolific voice actor for series including "Family Guy," "American Dad!" and "Teen Titans Go!," will begin voicing the character, Springfield's family physician, beginning with Sunday's episode "Wad Goals."

Richardson on "The Simpsons" primarily has voiced one-off characters and none of the main cast. He earned a 2019 Emmy Award nomination for his voice-over work as Chauncey "Rosie" Roosevelt on Netflix's "F Is for Family."

Neither Richardson nor Shearer, 77 — an Emmy winner for voicing the "Simpsons" characters Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns and others — has commented publicly on the change.

Shearer's final voicing of Dr. Hibbert was in Sunday's episode "Diary Queen."

The long-running series had come under fire following a 2017 truTV documentary, "The Problem With Apu," that called the show's South Asian convenience store owner, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a racial stereotype. Last February, white actor Hank Azaria, who had voiced the character from the show's beginning, said he and the producers had mutually decided to phase him out as Apu. By that time, Apu had not appeared in more than two years, other than as an occasional, nonspeaking background character.

Series creator Matt Groening, responding to a fan's question at the D23 Expo in August 2019 whether Apu would remain on the show, said, "Yes. We love Apu. We're proud of Apu," according to Variety.