Kristen Bell is expected to feature in an upcoming podcast series by Fox News focused on the Bible, slated to debut soon. However, there’s a significant issue for the actress – she wasn’t informed of her involvement.
The 45-year-old actress from Good Place discovered her leading role in the forthcoming Life of Jesus Christ Podcast only after Fox announced the show’s premiere set for November 30.
This religious podcast, spanning 52 episodes, boasts ‘over 100 notable actors voicing characters of the Bible’, including Succession’s Brian Cox as the voice of God, Bell as Mary Magdalene, and Band of Brothers’ Neal McDonough as Jesus.
However, numerous Hollywood actors have now voiced that they were unaware of their inclusion in the series, which utilizes their voices to bring ‘stories from the New Testament to life through immersive storytelling’, for the new ‘Fox Faith’ vertical.
Representatives for Bell and Cox have clarified that they were completely unaware of their participation in the Fox series and were not asked to feature in it.
For Cox, this revelation might have been particularly unsettling, given his past description of the Murdoch-owned network as ‘the devil’.
The representatives for the stars have also disclosed that the voice recordings were made over ten years ago for a different initiative, a 23-hour dramatization of the New Testament.
The company for which these recordings were initially made was subsequently acquired, and its intellectual property was licensed, allowing Fox to repurpose the voice recordings into its new 52-episode podcast.
Bell learned of her unexpected acting credit just a day before the show’s public announcement when her agent received a request for her to appear on Fox & Friends to discuss a podcast she was unaware of.
Her agents informed Rolling Stone that she did not authorize the reuse of her recordings.
Similarly, Cox’s representatives stated that the 79-year-old was not informed about the reuse of his voice recordings, saying: “Brian recorded audio for a project over a decade ago. He was unaware that the audio would be repurposed for a new podcast series in 2025. Brian only became aware of the podcast today.”
Actors Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies have also expressed that they were not informed about their voice recordings being repurposed for the new show, hosted by Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt, who introduces each episode.
A Fox News spokesperson mentioned, ‘Gulfstream Studios produced The Life of Jesus Podcast from The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, which was licensed by Fox News Audio, with full cooperation and participation by all the actors involved’.