The Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has been silent for nearly a decade after being criticised for perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
The Indian convenience store worker is considered racially insensitive, not least because he was voiced by a white man, Hank Azaria, 60.
In 2017, Apu became the centre of a documentary, The Problem with Apu, which laid bare the harm his characterisation was causing.
Since then, the character has not said a word on The Simpsons.
The last time Apu spoke was the Game of Thrones parody The Serfsons, which aired in October 2017, the month before The Problem with Apu was released.
In an interview on Pablo Torre Finds Out, Azaria said The Simpsons staffers all ‘froze’ after watching the documentary and started rethinking Apu.
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He said: ‘It wasn’t like, “Well, let me take a week and look into this.” It was probably two or three years because we all froze at The Simpsons. We had no idea what to do. The character stopped saying anything, and it became a deep dive into, “Well, is this racist? Does Hollywood have a tradition of doing this? In one way or another, am I a part of that?”‘
Azaria ultimately concluded that Apu was damaging.
He continued: ‘Honestly, at first, I thought, “Let me look into this, and then I’ll go back to doing the voice,” and say, “I understand, but I’m going to keep doing this.” I was surprised myself that I came down on, “No, I think I’m participating in a harm here.”‘
Azaria said one of the driving forces behind his decision was the name Apu becoming a slur.
He explained: ‘The main thing was when hate crimes were perpetrated against Southern Asian people, a lot of times, they were just called “Apu” which became a slur when convenience store guys were stabbed, shot, or robbed, especially when guys were more in the stereotypical professions like taxi drivers. They were hated on physically and called “Apu.”‘
In 2021, Azaria apologised for voicing Apu on Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert podcast, external, the actor said: ‘Part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologise.’
The same year, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening admitted that the long-running cartoon needed revamping.
He told BBC Radio One: ‘Bigotry and racism are still an incredible problem and it’s good to finally go for more equality and representation.’
Groening added: ‘If it’s an Indian character, Latin character or Black character, please let’s have that person voice the character.
‘It’s more authentic, they might also bring their experience of their culture to it – and let’s not take away jobs from people who don’t have enough.’
The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney Plus.
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