View Full Version : Hank Azaria offers to "step aside" from Apu role, calls on The Simpsons to listen to


TMC
04-25-2018, 03:02 PM
...South Asians

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hank-azaria-apu-the-simpsons_us_5ae021ebe4b07560f396adf9

Asked by Stephen Colbert about the Apu controversy, Azaria said (https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/988991809723318272), “the idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad.” Azaria said he'd be “perfectly willing and happy to step aside” from voicing Apu, adding: “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 and they talk about what they feel and how they think about this character and what their American experience of it has been.” The Problem with Apu's Hari Kondabolu responded (https://twitter.com/harikondabolu/status/989005158032998401) to Azaria's comments, tweeting: "Thank you, @HankAzaria. I appreciate what you said & how you said it."

TMC
05-08-2018, 04:05 PM
The Problem with Apu's Hari Kondabolu thinks it's "too late" for Hank Azaria to step aside from The Simpsons' Apu role (https://www.thedailybeast.com/hari-kondabolu-its-too-late-for-the-simpsons-hank-azaria-to-stop-playing-apu)
Kondabolu says he doesn't think The Simpsons writers or Matt Groening saw his truTV documentary -- but he thinks Azaria did -- because his film made clear that he didn't think Apu was made with nefarious purposes. "The Simpsons’ writers’ response is a response of people who didn’t see the film," he says. "That’s what I mean about fragility. I’m trying to have a nuanced discussion and they’re acting like the trolls on the internet who don’t read or watch anything and then question it." As for Azaria saying recently he'd step aside from the role, Kondabolu says: "I mean, personally, I think it’s too late. I think he can have the voice, but what can you do to make it more current, to make (Apu) more upwardly mobile? How about his kids’ voices? I think it would be funny if Apu’s kids were made fun of at school because of their father. Ultimately, there are creative solutions they haven’t explored and it’s bullsh*t to say they can’t change."