'Cleveland' finds a balance

Richardson joins 'Show' cast

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Black is white and white is black on Fox's upcoming "Family Guy" spinoff, "The Cleveland Show," which has found a way to balance out the racial makeup of its leads.

Mike Henry, who has voiced the character of African-American character Cleveland since "Family Guy's" bow in 1999, is white.

Now, thesp Kevin Richardson ("The Cleaner") has been tapped to supply the voice of Lester, a white "redneck" who lives next door. Richardson is African-American.

That should make for some interesting table reads -- the first of which for "Cleveland" will take place Thursday.

Also joining the cast are Sanaa Lathan ("Love & Basketball"), who will play Donna, Cleveland's new love interest. Donna is a single mom with two kids, one of whom will be voiced by Nia Long ("Soul Food"). Long will play Roberta, a rebellious teen.

"Cleveland" revolves around Peter Griffin's pal Cleveland Brown, who decides to take his son and move to Stoolbend, Va., where he moves in with his high school sweetheart and encounters a new cast of characters. Henry is also exec producer, along with Seth MacFarlane and Rich Appel.

Lathan will be seen next in "Wonderful World." Long was recently in the feature "Are We Done Yet?" and last season's ABC drama "Big Shots."

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