After 30 years playing the voice of Apu in the long-running show Simpsons, Hank Azaria says he’s stepping aside.
The character has long been controversial for its stereotypical depiction of Indian Americans, but the issue gained wide attention two years ago after the release of Hari Kondabolu’s documentary, The Problem with Apu.
There has been some speculation the character would be eliminated from the show.
“All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore, unless there’s someway to transition it or something,” Azaria said exclusively to /Film.
On the Simpson’s, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is an Indian immigrant who works at Kwik-E-Mart. He speaks in a heavy Indian accent and thanks every customer with his catch phrase, “Thank you, come again.”
The voice actor says his decision has been met with agreement from the show’s producers.
“We all made the decision together,” Azaria said. “We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it. The Indian community deserves to know they’ve been heard. Hopefully this is a step towards opening The Simpsons up so even more fans can love it as much as I have without feeling like the show is mocking them personally.”
Kondabolu went to Twitter to plead that the character not be phased out, but changed.
THE HARSH SPOTLIGHT Indian/American comedian Hari Kondabolu aimed at the offensive and racist Simpson character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon may have had an impact.
Less than two months after Kondabolu’s film The Problem with Apu aired on national TV, Hank Azaria, the voice behind the character, told TV Guide the long running show is looking at making changes.
For the film, Kondabolu interviewed a number of prominent Indian Americans in Hollywood who uniformly condemned the character. Many talked about how Apu lead to them being ridiculed by their peers.
“The idea that anybody, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased — or worse — based on the character of Apu on The Simpsons, or the voice or any other tropes of the character is distressing, especially in post-9/11 America,”said Azaria. “The idea that anybody was marginalized based on it or had a time was very upsetting to me personally and professionally.” Azaria made his comments at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena Friday. “As far as what is going to happen with the character going forward, it’s really not just up to me,” saying the show’s producers have also “given it a lot of thought.” “They will definitely address — maybe publicly, but certainly within the context of the show — what they want to do, if anything, with the character,” he added according to Indian Express. The Simpsons has long prided itself on being non-apologetic. It’s known for being an unflinching equal opportunity offender. What it could possibly do to make Apu more palatable is questionable. Short of eliminating the character altogether, one has to wonder how much the character will be changed, if at all. “The idea that anybody, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased — or worse — based on the character of Apu on The Simpsons, or the voice or any other tropes of the character is distressing, especially in post-9/11 America,”said Azaria. “The idea that anybody was marginalized based on it or had a time was very upsetting to me personally and professionally.”
Azaria made his comments at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena Friday.
“As far as what is going to happen with the character going forward, it’s really not just up to me,” saying the show’s producers have also “given it a lot of thought.” “They will definitely address — maybe publicly, but certainly within the context of the show — what they want to do, if anything, with the character,” he added according to Indian Express.
The Simpsons has long prided itself on being non-apologetic. It’s known for being an unflinching equal opportunity offender. What it could possibly do to make Apu more palatable is questionable. Short of eliminating the character altogether, one has to wonder how much the character will be changed, if at all.
COMEDIAN Hari Kondabolu’s film The Problem with Apu makes its television debut this Sunday (Nov. 19) on TruTV (10 pm Sunday with repeat showings Monday at 1 a.m. and 7 p.m.)
The cutting film on the long-running Simpson’s character Apu leaves no doubt what Kondabolu and a who’s who of Indian Americans in Hollywood think of the immigrant owner of the fictitious Kwik-E-Mart.
AsAmNews had an opportunity to screen the film in advance of Sunday’s TV premiere. It’s a must see for Simpson fans and anyone interested in diverse representations in the media.
Apu is voiced by Hank Azaria, faux Indian accent and all. As Kondabolu put it, Azaria is “a White guy-a White guy doing an impression of a White guy making fun of my father.”
Hari Kondabolu
The biggest question permeating the entire 48 minute film is whether Azaria would accept an invitation from Knodabolu to sit down for an interview. The extent in which Kondabolu went to get the actor’s attention provides comic relief and the film’s only suspense. To find the answer, you’ll have to make sure you watch the entire film. Don’t miss the sequence right before the credits. In my mind, it’s the payoff for the entire documentary.
Kondabolu, 35, told NBC News that initially when he saw a “brown face on television” at age nine, he was excited. But he found even as a child he was bothered by the stereotypes Apu seemed to perpetuate.
“To imagine a White dude doing that voice, that was a torment,” Kondabolu said to NBC. “It was like bullying from behind the screen.”
The documentary was inspired by W. Kamau Bell, an African American stand up comic. Kondabolu wrote for Bell’s show Totally Biased with W Kamau.
It was Bell who asked, even demanded, that Kondabolu do a bit on South Asian representation in the media for Totally Biased.
Kondabolu singled out Apu and the history of South Asians on American television. The piece went viral.
“It was all over the internet and it was passed around in classrooms,” Kondabolu said. “I didn’t expect it to have the impact that it made.”
Kondabolu returns to the conversations his original segment created in his new documentary. Topics include the history of minstrelsy, how Apu’s accent came to be and the stereotypical roles South Asian American performers continue to get offered in Hollywood.
“I don’t find Apu offensive, I find him annoying and insulting,” he said to NBC. “But for me, one: It’s inaccurate. Two: It’s insulting to my parents. And three: When that’s the only depiction you have, that’s how the world sees you.”
The documentary includes segments with fellow comedians Aziz Ansari, Hasan Minhaj, Aparna Nancherla, and Russell Peters as well as interviews with actors Sakina Jaffrey, Aasif Mandvi, Danny Pudi, and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Whoopi Goldberg also has a prominent part in the film.
“I wanted to show the broad range of people affected by it,” Kondabolu said. “Because for me personally those are my parents, you are basically making fun of my parents.”
Kondabolu said he’s still a fan of The Simpsons and states it’s one of the greatest shows of all time.
