Two Years After THE TROUBLE WITH APU Documentary, Hank Azaria Will No Longer Voice Apu on "The Simpsons"
As a first-generation fan of “The Simpsons”, I finally tapped out on the groundbreaking show sometime around Season 13 or 14. I went from recording every episode on VHS tapes, usually while watching, to catching one here and there to completely ignoring something that people still associate with me all these years later. Things had peaked and, much like athletes, scripted TV shows typically don’t get better as they age. “The Simpsons” was no exception. If I put on a random Simpsons ep today, there’s less than a one in three chance it’s from the Classic Era.
I guess that’s the long way of saying that I really don’t care all that much that the uber-talented Hank Azaria will no longer voice Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. If you’ve been following this saga for awhile, then this result wasn’t a total surprise. But I do wonder what this means for Apu’s castmates.
*Will Chief Wiggum need to get rid of his literal pig nose, laziness, and gluttony or risk the wrath of the nation’s police?
*Have we heard the last of Scotsman Groundskeeper Willie’s angry burr?
*Does Fat Tony get whacked from the show, lest he offend Italo-Americans?
*What about the appropriateness of Dr. Hibbert, who was loosely based on Bill Cosby’s Dr. Huxtable?
*Is it time to say “ciao” to Luigi, one-a the biggest-a stereotypes on-a da show-a?
*Has the nasally New York-voiced Blue Haired Lawyer (read: Jew) sent Monty Burns his last billable hours?
*Will Homer’s black friend and co-worker Carl Carlson still be voiced by Azaria?
“The Simpsons” started as a brilliant satirical cartoon that simultaneously used and needled stereotypes about literally every name on the checklist. Being a cartoon gave them a sort of liberty that live action can’t. And though it straddled the line, the show never crossed it.
Azaria voicing Apu became an issue when comedian Hari Kondabolu released his documentary THE PROBLEM WITH APU a little over two years ago.
He explains in the Tweet above what his intentions were. It most certainly started discussions. Having seen the documentary when it debuted and knowing how much Azaria’s portrayal irked the comedian, it sure does feel like he got what he wanted. I went into the doc with an open mind, willing to be swayed with solid arguments. But frankly, I didn’t leave it thinking, “Hank Azaria must cease voicing Apu at this moment”.
This is where I acknowledge that yes, I’m a white guy who wouldn’t be offended by Azaria’s accent in the first place. I just don’t think Kondabolu made a very compelling argument that the Indian community at large was offended and that Fox had no choice but to pull Azaria from the gig; Kondabolu and some of his actor friends seeking work in Hollywood are hardly representative of over a billion people. Not to mention I thought the comparisons to black minstrelsy were quite a stretch.
There wasn’t some movement at play here, not even a half-assed online one. It just seemed like a comedian was still pissed that his classmates used to say “Thank you, come again!” (which was only said eight times on the show) and that Hollywood has a shitty history portraying Indians (like every other minority). Christ, even his own mother said she calls him “Apu” and that Azaria did a good job.
It’s all kind of ironic because Apu is one of the most decent characters on the show. The stereotypes are that he has an accent and he…owns a convenience store. The horror. He’s smart as a whip. He busts his balls to provide for his family because when you own a convenience store, you’re married to it. What’s bad about the “stereotype” of being a hard-working business owner? And the price gouging and gross in-store food were never stereotypes about Indians—they were making fun of Kwik-E-Mart-type stores that rip customers off and that reputation predates the era in which Indian ownership of such stores became more prevalent.
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But while my opinion is ultimately irrelevant in the matter, Azaria’s wasn’t.
“I’ve given this a lot of thought — really a lot of thought — and, as I say, my eyes have been opened. And I think the most important thing is we have to listen to South Asian people, Indian people in this country, when they talk about what they feel and how they think about this character, and what their American experience of it has been… Listening to voices means inclusion in the writers’ room. I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers’ room, not in a token way, but genuinely informing whatever new direction this character may take, including how it is voiced or not voiced.”
“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. The idea that anybody was marginalized based on it or had a hard time was very upsetting to me personally and professionally. It’s a character I’ve done for 29 years now, and I’ve done it with a lot of love, and joy, and pride. That certainly wasn’t the intent.”
Hank Azaria was not canceled and he didn’t lose his job because of so-called “SJW”s. One person took issue with the work he was doing and spoke out via a documentary. That led to Azaria having conversations with people about said work, looking within himself, and deciding that he was okay with leaving Apu in his past at this point.
I’m not mad, sad, or glad. I’m pretty much indifferent. If Azaria no longer wants to sporadically voice a character on a show I stopped watching ages ago because he feels different today, so be it. I just think it’s a moot point at this stage and won’t have any negligible effect on anything in 2020.