Futurama Season 11: Who Voices Kwanzaa-Bot & Why Hearing Him Is So Bittersweet
Contains Spoilers for "Futurama" Season 11, Episode 6 — "I Know What You Did Next X-Mas"
X-Mas time on "Futurama" usually results in several familiar characters returning to the show's roost for further holiday-related hijinks. Naturally, there's the murderous Robot Santa (John DiMaggio), forever trying to punish the naughty in very painful ways; there's the Chanukah Zombie (Mark Hamill), who shambles ever onward; and finally, there's the forever cool Kwanzaa-bot (Coolio) ... who still can't get people to understand what Kwanzaa is, no matter how many centuries he's spent disseminating literature on the topic.
During "I Know What You Did Next X-Mas," Kwanzaa-bot and the Chanukah Zombie take part in a holiday special, a reference that brings to mind their roles in "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular." Unfortunately, the kids only want to hear about Robot Santa, which leads to the explanation of his origin story — and results in an impressive display of violence. Kif (Maurice LaMarche) and Amy's (Lauren Tom) young children are left understandably distraught.
Sadly, this will likely be the last time "Futurama" fans will ever get to see Kwanzaa-bot, as Coolio, who had voiced him since his first appearance in "X-Mas Story," passed away on September 28, 2022, at the age of 59. His voice role as Kwanzaa-bot in this episode was among the last he recorded before his death.
Coolio's passing is celebrated with a lovely credit sequence
"Futurama" producer David X. Cohen expressed his surprise over Coolio's passing to TMZ shortly after the rapper's death was announced, as his time in the show's recording booth had been quite recent. "Coolio was one of my favorite guests. He was always totally upbeat and genuinely enjoyed coming in to record as his character Kwanzaa-bot," he said at the time. Cohen shared a picture of himself and Coolio with TMZ, adding that he'd seen the rapper only weeks before his death.
Cohen told TMZ that they planned on giving Kwanzaa-bot a proper send-off, and indeed, "I Know What You Did Next X-Mas" features a moving tribute to the robot and the man who voiced him. After the robot raps his way through a Futurama-ized version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," Kwanzaa-bot is seen in his sleigh, waving goodbye to the audience as he flies off into the night sky. An on-screen tribute is then given to Coolio, with the episode posthumously dedicated to him. While that officially means "Futurama" fans won't be seeing the robot again, it's a very sweet send-off for a robot that wasn't always given a lot of respect by the show's characters, but will now forever be remembered by viewers everywhere.