Simpsons star quits role after racism row
THE WHITE actor who voices Indian shopkeeper Apu in The Simpsons is quitting the role following years of controversy.
Hank Azaria, who has spoken the lines of the cartoon character since it was created in 1990, revealed the change in an interview, saying ‘it’s the right thing [to do]’.
It was not clear last night whether Apu would get a new voice provided by an Indian actor or be dropped from the series altogether because he was accused of reinforcing racial stereotypes.
‘All we know is I won’t be doing the voice any more, unless there’s some way to transition it or something,’ Mr Azaria told the website SlashFilm. ‘We all made the decision together… We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.’
Arguments over the Apu Nahasapeemapetilon character intensified in 2017 when Indian- American comic Hari Kondabolu made a documentary saying that Apu was founded on racial stereotypes.
He said Apu was one of the only representations of South Asians on US television when he was a child and other youngsters imitated the character to mock him.
At the time, Mr Azaria – who also provides voices for characters Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum, among others – said he found it ‘very upsetting to me personally and professionally’ that anyone was marginalised because of Apu. He added that he would be willing to stop playing the character.
Mr Kondabolu has now tweeted that he hopes the character remains in the show and that ‘a very talented writing staff do something interesting with him.
‘My documentary was not made to get rid of a dated cartoon character, but to discuss race, representation and my community, which I love very much. It was also about how you can love something like the Simpsons and still be critical about aspects of it.’