Hank Azaria Will Address the Apu Controversy in a One-Man Show

Hank Azaria has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to his recent New York Times op-ed, in which he opposed the idea of A.I. technology stealing his voice one day, and also because of his second career as a Bruce Springsteen impersonator — which, come to think of it, is just a more old-fashioned way of stealing someone’s voice. 

Azaria was recently the subject of a Washington Post profile, which discussed his “Hank Azaria and the EZ Street Band” concert tour as well as his work on The Simpsons. The article also noted that Azaria is currently developing his own one-man show “in which he hopes to tackle it all,” including his struggle with alcoholism, his subsequent recovery and the controversy surrounding Apu.

As most people are already aware, Azaria’s portrayal of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on The Simpsons was the subject of comedian Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, which spelled out the negative cultural impacts of the character, and eventually led to Apu being written out of the show entirely — but not before The Simpsons team responded in the lamest way possible. 

The Season 29 episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished” featured a scene in which Lisa implicitly addressed the controversy before shrugging her shoulders and suggesting that nothing can be done at this point. 

As Kondabolu pointed out during an episode of NPR’s Code Switch, in addition to bucking any responsibility for any damage they may have caused, The Simpsons writers created a scene that was “very untrue to the character of Lisa.” Because “Lisa would have agreed with me,” Kondabolu correctly pointed out.

Azaria resisted sitting down with Kondabolu for the documentary, but he eventually came around and decided to stop doing the character. He also, somewhat surprisingly, befriended Kondabolu and even helped promote his stand-up special Vacation Baby.

Azaria certainly seems regretful about the hurt he’s caused. In that same episode of Code Switch, he talked about the shock he felt after learning that “Apu” was used as a racial slur, and confessed that he now knows that he “helped to create a pretty marginalizing, dehumanizing stereotype.”

It’s unclear what exactly Azaria’s “one-man show” would entail, but if it is an autobiographical performance, certainly the Apu controversy is a chapter that couldn’t, and shouldn’t, be omitted. 

Also, he should probably dedicate a 20- to 30-minute chunk of the show to recounting what it was like shooting the music video for Smash Mouth’s “All Star.”