One of the most celebrated and accomplished narrators of audiobooks, whose voice has been described as "sandpaper and velvet," is under fire for faking his Southern accent in the audio recording of William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury."
Grover Gardner, an award-winning narrator and native of Pennsylvania, has read everyone from Stephen King to Edgar Allan Poe, but his reading of Faulkner has drawn harsh criticism, even being called by some as "cultural appropriation."
Gardner has since apologized for his portrayal of the Compson children and their servant, Dilsey. Perhaps some of his most shocking and most offensive use of a Southern accent is in Part 4 which uses an omniscient point of view, rumored to be Faulkner himself. In this section, Gardner sounds nothing more than a bad impersonation of Looney Tunes' Foghorn Leghorn.
Gardner sounds nothing more than a bad impersonation of Looney Tunes' Foghorn Leghorn.
The forced apology stems from a viral TikTok video where a University of Mississippi linguistics professor deconstructed Gardner's portrayal of the Compson family as "a grotesque pastiche of Mississippi stereotypes, built on mixed vowels and misplaced apostrophes."
The video amassed millions of views and ignited a storm on social media, with hashtags like #GetGrover and #NotMyNarrator trending higher than a hounddog on its hip and joint medicine.
The controversy launched a larger conversation about voice casting that has boiled into the mainstream over the last few years.
Many actors who do voice work or cartoon characters have come out and apologized for voicing diverse or mixed-race characters, the most notable Hank Azaria for his portrayal of Apu on 'The Simpsons' and Jenny Slate as the biracial Missy on 'Big Mouth.'
Gardner, usually known for his stoic demeanor and smooth voice, appeared genuinely shaken during his apology video while he confessed, "I graduated from Rollins College in Florida and thought I understood the essence of the South through my knowledge of Molly Hatchet songs and Dukes of Hazzard episodes."
"I didn't know any better. I didn't realize that the South is full of real people with a rich culture, not just shooting guns and eating fried food. I apologize for my part in perpetuating the stereotype that all Southerners are idiots and talk funny."
"I was blinded by the allure of caricature, deaf to the murmurs of cultural appropriation."
Not everyone was impressed by Gardner's mea culpa. Rival audiobook narrator Reginald "Thunderclap" Thompson scoffed, "Next he'll apologize for breathing! Reading out loud is about stretching your vocal talents, not whispering on the eggshells of cultural sensitivity."
Many actual Southerners did not comment on Gardner's situation. The few that we tried to interview had never heard of Faulkner, didn't listen to audiobooks, and were late for church.
Meanwhile, the audiobook industry braces for a seismic shift. Studios echo with nervous mumbles of, "Um, I can do… a person?" Is this the dawn of a dialect-free future, where all characters will have to be narrated in bland Midwestern American monotones?
Imagine a Joyce audiobook without a little leprechaun voice. Or a Tolstoy without the narrator sounding like Ivan Drago. Could you even listen to Victor Hugo or Flaubert without the little French laugh "HON HON HON" thrown in every once in a while?
What's the point of even listening?