The Simpsons was somewhat slow to embrace the trend of animated shows, requiring white actors to voice non-white characters, to the point that the show initially actively backed off against the shift, but – to his credit – voice actor Hank Azaria was faster than some of him Simpsons colleagues to acknowledge the fact that he did something wrong and offensive by pronouncing Apu (as underlined in Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The problem with Apu Azaria decided he would stop voicing Apu long before it had become public official policy at Simpsons HQ, and he has since been open about wanting to be held responsible for the damage he caused by playing the character.
Recently, performing at Dax Shepard and Monica Padman’s Armchair specialist podcast (through The Hollywood ReporterAzaria said he continues to investigate the negative impact Apu had on the perception of Indian people in the United States, and that he has met Indian-American children who have never seen an episode of The Simpsons but still knows about Apu. “It’s practically a blemish right now,” he says, adding that a 17-year-old child, in particular, had asked him in tears to remind writers that “what they do matters and affects people’s lives. . “
Azaria seems to recognize the very pivotal role he played in spreading the racist stereotyping that Apu was a part of, and it sounds like he’s doing his very best to at least apologize for it and listen to people’s concerns about it are active parts of his life now. “Part of me feels like I should go to every Indian person in this country and apologize personally,” he said on the podcast. “And sometimes I do.” Meanwhile on The SimpsonsApu has never been recast (unlike some of the black characters once voiced by white men, such as with Kevin Michael Richardson replacing Harry Shearer as Dr. Hibbert).