The Simpsons voice actor regrets Apu character’s ‘dehumanizing stereotype’
Jenny Goldsberry
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Actor Hank Azaria of The Simpsons went on the record to share his regret over voicing Apu, the show’s Indian character who operated a convenience store.
Azaria gave an interview to National Public Radio alongside Hari Kondabolu, an Indian comedian who produced his own documentary with Apu Nahasapeemapetilon at the center called The Problem With Apu. Kondabolu related how the character’s catchphrase “thank you, come again” would make appearances in police reports that he read while he was at Queens District Attorney’s Hate Crimes Bureau as a college student.
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“I helped to create a pretty marginalizing, dehumanizing stereotype,” Azaria said. The comedian now finds it “embarrassing” that the stereotype is broadly applied to Desi people in the United States.
Azaria found inspiration for the character from another white actor, Peter Sellers, who played the Indian character Hrundi V. Bakshi in the film The Party. Sellers’s impersonation of an Indian was among the only times Azaria had heard the accent as a comedian living in Los Angeles.
“It was an homage to that, you know, one of my heroes,” Azaria said of the actor who donned brown makeup on his face for the role. During the interview, Azaria instead thanked Kondabolu for “dragging me and pushing me into this conversation.”
“There’s this history of White folks talking about what they’ve learned and sharing the knowledge without giving credit to the people of color that actually got them there,” Kondabolu responded. “This is every person of color who has put in work.”
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The Apu character made his appearance a year after The Simpsons got its start in 1989. Apu has not appeared in an episode since 2017. Recently the show was renewed for a 33rd and 34th season.