Hank Azaria, the actor and comedian who voiced Apu from The Simpsons for three decades, has issued a heartfelt apology to those offended by his performance.
Azaria started voicing Apu, an Indian immigrant who runs the Kwik-E-Mart store in Springfield, back in 1990. Following years of complaints and allegations of racism, the voice actor finally decided to step down from his controversial role in the popular show and issue an apology.
Back in 2017, the Indian character became the center of controversy after a documentary called ‘The Problem With Apu’ challenged the show’s creators and suggested they contributed to structural racism by having a white man voice the character in a stereotypical way.
In early 2020, Azaria decided to step down from his position as Apu but went on to voice other characters in the show instead. Now, he also apologized for the part he played in the show saying he now feels like he needs to go “to every single Indian person in this country and apologize.”
“I really didn’t know any better. I didn’t think about it. I was unaware of how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens,” he said on Dax Shepherd’s ‘Armchair Expert’ podcast.
“I couldn’t be possibly passing along structural racism more perfectly, at least in a show business context, by taking something that was already upsetting and going, ‘Oh, this is wonderful!”’
According to the comedian, he had spent the last year educating himself by taking seminars and talking to “lots of Indian people.” He also started advocating for people of color to be cast to voice characters of color instead of white voice actors.
While Azaria clearly had a change of heart, the creators of The Simpsons previously took a jab at the 2017 documentary about Apu in the episode called ‘No Good Read Goes Unpunished.’
In the controversial episode, Marge bought an old book from the time she was a child. After reading the fairytale to Lisa, Marge realized that the book was in fact very culturally offensive.
As the episode comes to an end, Lisa turns towards the camera and says: “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?” Next to Lisa, there is a framed photo of Apu with the caption “Don’t have a cow!”
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Replaced!