TV

‘The Simpsons’ Is Reportedly Writing Apu Out Of The Show To Avoid Dealing With The Controversy

I guess this is easier than actually addressing the issue, huh.

by Tom Clift  27 October 2018
The Simpsons write out Apu

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

After months of excuses, the producers of The Simpsons appear to have finally come up to their Apu problem: write him out of the show.

The long-running series has faced increasing criticism over the past year or so regarding the Kwik-E-Mart clerk, with many fans now viewing him as an offensive racial caricature. Even Hank Azaria, the white voice actor who plays him, has conceded there’s a problem — although series creator Matt Groening had a different perspective, claiming the character is actually fine and that people nowadays just “love to pretend that they’re offended”.

Related
What The Apu Controversy Tells Us About Woke White People

Now Indiewire is reporting the series will quietly drop Apu from future episodes so as to avoid stirring up further controversy.

Their source on the story is film producer Adi Shanker, who claims to have spoken to multiple people who work on the show.

“I got some disheartening news back, that I’ve verified from multiple sources now: They’re going to drop the character altogether,” Shanker said. “They aren’t going to make a big deal out of it, or anything like that, but they’ll drop him altogether just to avoid the controversy.”

Fox has yet to confirm Shanker’s claims.

Shanker had been running a competition to crowdsource a script for an episode that would deal with the Apu controversy, with the ultimate aim of convincing Fox to produce it. He criticised the decision to simply write Apu out of the show, calling it “a massive step sideways”.

“If you are a show about cultural commentary and you are too afraid to comment on the culture, especially when it’s a component of the culture you had a hand in creating, then you are a show about cowardice,” he said.

Hari Kondabolu, the comedian whose documentary The Problem with Apu drew attention to the issue, was similarly critical, tweeting “there are so many ways to make Apu work without getting rid of him”.