Apu Hasn’t Spoken on ‘The Simpsons’ Since Hank Azaria Got Called Out
It’s no secret that Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is no longer a significant part of The Simpsons. The decision to sideline the character came in the wake of Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, which laid out a compelling case against white actor Hank Azaria’s portrayal of a stereotypical Indian cartoon character that even Azaria once admitted was intentionally “offensive.”
But no story reason was given for Apu’s conspicuous absence from the show, not even a handwritten note explaining that Apu went back to his home planet.
Now we know a bit more about the show’s behind-the-scenes response, thanks to Azaria. Per Comic Book Resources, the actor recently guested on the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out, and spoke about the biggest Simpsons controversy that didn’t involve the Bush family. As Azaria noted, the decision-making process was lengthy. “In order to answer that question, ‘Do I keep doing this (voice) or not?’ required a deep dive,” he explained. “It wasn’t like, ‘Well, let me take a week and look into this.’ It was probably two or three years.”
But before the show officially pulled the plug on Azaria’s role, the Simpsons team wasn’t sure how to react to the documentary. “We all just froze at The Simpsons,” Azaria recalled. “We had no idea what to do. The character just stopped saying anything.”
It’s true, the last time that Apu spoke was in the Season 29 premiere “The Serfsons.” The Game of Thrones parody episode aired in October 2017, just a month before the doc was released.
The character still continued to pop up on The Simpsons, but only as a mute background character. Then the show arguably made things even worse in 2018, shoehorning in a fourth-wall-breaking scene that addressed the controversy by having Lisa uncharacteristically defend ethical apathy as a response to evolving cultural standards.
Azaria didn’t confirm that he was done with the role until 2020, three years after Apu spoke for the final time. Azaria told Torre that one of the major factors that led him to that decision was when he learned that “when hate crimes were perpetrated against Southern Asian people, a lot of times they were called ‘Apu.’ It became a slur.”
Azaria was also careful to point out that he shouldn’t get too much credit for making the right call after three years of uncertainty. “I’m not a hero by the way,” he clarified. “I got dragged to this. And I couldn’t get out of this because I had this professional, public decision to make.”
While he no longer speaks, Apu has been seen on The Simpsons as recently as last year, when he popped up during an alternate credit sequence in last year’s season finale “Bart’s Brain,” along with his octuplets.
But obviously he didn’t stop to chat.
