Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of BoJack Horseman, recently gave a lengthy interview in which he addressed his own mistakes as well as the overall problem of diversity in animation. Bob-Waksberg admitted to Uproxx that he was naive in thinking that taking a "color-blind approach" to the casting of his show would be sufficient enough to ensure that he would have a diverse cast of actors and characters.
Bob-Waksberg also suggested during the interview that he may have used this misguided approach as "an excuse to not pay attention." However, he's begun to realize over the four seasons he has worked on BoJack Horseman that his lack of effort in working to create a diverse cast, has only served to continue the vicious cycle. He believes, that despite his past missteps, he can make positive strides in the right direction by being proactive about inclusivity going forward.
"You have to actively hire people of color. You have to actively think for every role: Can this be not a white person? If I’m not thinking about, it’s not going to happen," he said. Bob-Waksberg has faced his own share of criticism for the coincidental white-washing of Bojack's cast of characters. He even addressed a fan's disappointment over the casting of Alison Brie as the show's Vietnamese-American character Diane in a recent tweet.
Although there still exists an ample amount of room for improvement in diverse representation, showrunners like Bob-Waksberg are beginning to understand the gravity of their decisions on the cycle of white-washing that we continue to see played out in media.
