The Simpsons are caving into hysteria from the left and getting rid of long-running Indian convenience store owner Apu from the show.
Producer Adi Shankar told Indiewire in an interview that “multiple sources” told him that Apu would be quietly retired from the show in order to avoid upsetting the hysterical mob.
Deadlines.com reports: The character has been the subject of complaints about stereotyping South Asians, intensifying in the last two years.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
The cartoon character is voiced by actor Hank Azaria, who has said he’s “willing and happy” to step aside as the voice of Apu or to help transition the character into “something new,” calling it “the right thing to do, to me.”
The Apu controversy came to ahead when Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem with Apu emerged last year.
In April, Shankar created a spec script competiton centered on the “Apu Problem,” hoping to get show producers to update the character with a more positive portrait.
Shankar claimed he received news on Apu from two staffers on The Simpsons and someone who works with creator Matt Groening.
Earlier, Fox Television executives said they would leave it up to the show on how to handle the Apu controversy going forward.
An April Simpsons episode made a glancing address to the controversy about what critics call the stereotypes embodied by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the Indian-American owner of Springfield’s Kwik-E-Mart convenience store.
The episode included a scene in which Marge Simpson reads a book to daughter Lisa, who notes the book’s “cisgender girl” heroine is “already evolved” and “doesn’t really have an emotional journey to complete.”
When Marge asks, “Well, what am I supposed to do?,” Lisa responds, “It’s hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?” At that point, Lisa looked at a framed photograph of the Hank Azaria-voiced Apu inscribed, “Don’t have a cow,” the old Bart Simpson catchphrase given new and literal meaning coming from Apu.
“Some things will be dealt with at a later date,” Marge tells Lisa, who responds, “If at all.”
