Posted on 04/09/2018 1:40:26 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Fox's The Simpsons is under fire for the way in which the show responded to controversy around one of its most recognizable and oldest characters, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
The outcry over the stereotypical portrayal of Springfield’s Kwik-E-Mart owner, voiced by Hank Azaria, was addressed Sunday night in the episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished" when Marge Simpson reads a book to daughter Lisa that has been changed from its original version to something not so controversial.
“Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?,” says Lisa. The show then panned to a picture of Apu.
While some viewers were fine with the response (before the show aired, showrunner Al Jean tweeted, "New Simpsons in five minutes. Twitter explosion in act three," and he retweeted numerous positive takes afterward), there were those who felt like the moment was a slap in the face.
Comedian Hari Kondabolu, who last year released the documentary The Problem With Apu, was among those displeased.
"Wow. 'Politically Incorrect?' That’s the takeaway from my movie & the discussion it sparked? Man, I really loved this show. This is sad," Kondabolu tweeted. "In 'The Problem with Apu,' I used Apu & The Simpsons as an entry point into a larger conversation about the representation of marginalized groups & why this is important. The Simpsons response tonight is not a jab at me, but at what many of us consider progress."
Comedian and TV personality W. Kamau Bell also blasted the Fox cartoon.
“I think the fact that they put this ‘argument’ in the mouth of Lisa’s character, the character who usually champions the underdogs and is supposed to be the most thoughtful and liberal, is what makes this the most ridiculous (as in worthy of ridicule) and toothless response," Bell wrote among numerous tweets on the issue. "The 'argument' the episode makes is basically things used to better before political correctness when nobody cared about all these groups. It ignores the facts that ALL THESE GROUPS ALWAYS CARED ABOUT ALL THESE GROUPS. But these groups' complaints weren't respected/supported."
Al Arabiya English journalist William Mullally wrote, "The Simpsons response to The Problem with Apu: a callous and resentful shrug."
Representatives for Fox and 20th Century Fox Television said that producers prefer to let the episode "speak for itself."
Yeah exactly.
LOL. She’ll probably accuse Mr. Burns.
They shouldn’t have admitted they were Republicans. 8>)
No actual Indians were offended....
Meet the new Puritans, they don’t want to have any fun either.
The Simpsons has decades of good humor and creativity and, what I have always loved most about it, fully development characters who are both good and bad, like we all are. Apu too.
I’m not some Simpson super-fan so I can’t cite chapter and verse of Apu’s story archs or whatever. Maybe someone can. But I am sure he is about as real as a cartoon person can be, as much as Bart and Lisa and Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders and all the rest.
What really, really bothers me is that we are supposed to just jettison anything and everything just because it bothers this person, that person or A MILLION persons.
These are jokes people, if you are getting bent out of shape about the portrayal of some immigrant Indian shopkeeper in a TV Cartoon show and you are over the age of 21 you really need to get a life.
Please find a way to help someone, there are millions of people who need real help and could use yours. Find them, help them. But please leave those of us who are managing on our own alone.
I think it’s great. Matt Groening and most of the people working on the Simpsons are enormous Liberal D-bags, so it’s nice to see the Left eating their own.
Pity the folks running FOX News aren’t as b@llsy....
Apu’s voice seems to be based on Peter Sellers’ “Indian” characters. I wonder if Jews should complain about Krusty the Clown? He’s a compendium of negative Jewish stereotypes. Tablet magazine called the character a walking Blood Libel.
Part of the problem is that Apu is voiced by Hank Azaria, who is brilliant, but also pretty damn white. So you’ve got the whole white-casting thing. Most Simpsons characters are bad stereotypes, that’s their stock in trade. Apu happened to become kind of a flagship bad stereotype though, as somebody else pointed out his name has actually become an insult in Indian communities, basically their version of Uncle Tom. Then there was the documentary last year. Really the core problem here is that bit basically admitted the documentary was right, and then declared they weren’t going to do anything about it.
Well the same seven or so white actors voice all the characters pretty much. Including the black Dr. Hibbert. The name Apu comes from the great Indian film director Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy”. Perhaps the most respected Indian films of all time.
“The reason there’s no controversy is because Homer is NOT stereotypical of white men.”
You’re right. Cletus Spuckler is supposed to be the stereotypical white man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de-_UJJ19T0
And they’ve successfully made the name a slur in the country. Quite the achievement honestly. They’d have been better off ignoring it. Everybody knows Apu is a bit of a problem character, they’ve discussed it out of show, even worked it a bit in show. But acknowledging something then declaring they’re not going to do anything about something is pretty much always the worst move.
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