Beginning as a YouTube channel that provided both education and entertainment for young children, Blippi is now an extremely popular show produced by Moonbug Entertainment. The show follows a silly man named Blippi who is always decked out in an orange and blue beanie, orange suspenders, and an orange bow tie.
Blippi is meant to teach viewers about things like colors, numbers, and shapes through fun stories and songs. Given that the show is meant for children, you would think that an actor change wouldn’t cause upset the same way a show for more mature audiences would. However, this was not the case.
When the actor behind the titular character changed, parents immediately noticed and voiced their disappointment in the situation. To many, it felt like a “blip in the simulation” to see this familiar face replaced by someone else.
The Blippi actor change, explained
Long story short, the actor didn’t change. Blippi and Moonbug Entertainment made the decision to add a second actor so that they could continue to produce as much Blippi content as possible.
The original actor, Stevin John, originated the role in 2014 when he began making children’s content on YouTube. The show nurtures the curiosity of 2-6-year-olds by teaching them about animals, cars, jobs, and the rest of the world. Moonbug Entertainment purchased Blippi in 2020.
Blippi‘s success grew into its own television show, children’s music, and an international tour. Because of its overwhelming success, Blippi and Moonbug Entertainment chose to add Clayton Grimm to the show.
Grimm has previously played Blippi in Blippi the Musical and began sharing the role with John in 2021. More recently, Grimm has been producing social media, streaming, and live content as Blippi since 2021.
He shares his journey to becoming Blippi via TikTok:
The actor shares a lot of behind-the-scenes content about his journey with Blippi and appears frequently on the Blippi accounts as well.
However, John continues to appear in a lot of Blippi content and seems to be working on Blippi behind the scenes as well.
How parents are responding to the Blippi actor changes
Many parents are still very “upset” by the addition, starting the hashtag #NotMyBlippi across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. In contrast, Blippi’s sidekick Meekah has been played by multiple actresses with no complaints.
Moonbug Entertainment told Parents.com that, “Being Blippi is a state of mind and as the franchise continues to grow so too will the actors that play him.”