Hank Azaria would like to apologize to everyone of Indian descent for his earlier portrayal of “The Simpsons” character, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
The character, who runs the local Kwik-E-Mart in Springfield and was voiced by Azaria from 1988, became the subject of controversy in 2017 when comedian Hari Kondabolu released the documentary “The Problem With Apu”. The documentary sparked a conversation about money laundering, racist voices and the negative impact the character has had on the perception of Indian people in America.
In an interview with The New York Times in 2020, Azaria said he had renounced voicing the character when the show began to generally fix white actors voicing non-white characters. Recently, the actor spoke on the podcast “Armchair Expert” and told hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman about the journey he has taken to educate himself about the damage Apu has done to the Indian community.
Azaria not only took the message behind Kondabolu’s documentary to heart, but also said he was trying to talk to Indian people to get a little perspective. He told the podcast host a story of a recent meeting with a young Indian boy that shook him.
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Hank Azaria said he would like to apologize to any Indian person for previously voicing the character Apu in ‘The Simpsons’.
(Getty Images / FOX)
“I spoke at my son’s school, I spoke to the Indian kids there because I wanted to get their input,” said Azaria (via The Hollywood Reporter). “A 17 year old … he’s never seen ‘The Simpsons’ but knows what Apu means. It’s practically a blot on this point. This country.”
The actor said the boy had tears in his eyes when he begged him to tell anyone in Hollywood who would listen that what writers do matters and affects the lives of people like him. Azaria says he agreed to get the message across as best he could, which he says starts with apologizing for Apu.
According to Vulture, at one point during the lengthy interview, the voice actor spoke directly to Padman, who is an Indian-American himself, to explain that he feels he has hurt her and everyone like her with his portrayal.
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“I really apologize. I know you didn’t ask for that, but it’s important. I apologize for my part in creating and participating in that,” he said. “Part of me feels like I should go to every Indian person in this country and apologize, and sometimes I do when it comes up.”
Hank Azaria said he hopes there will be more Indian and South Asian writers about ‘The Simpsons’.
(Reuters)
Azaria closed his thoughts on the matter by noting that he has fully embraced diversity in casting votes and tries to be an advocate for it whenever he can.
“If it’s an Indian character, or a Latinx character, or a Black character, please let that person pronounce the character,” he concluded. “It’s more authentic, they’ll add their experience, and let’s not take jobs away from people who don’t have enough.”
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The star puts his money where his mouth is. In addition to no longer voicing Apu, he and the show have agreed to replace the voices behind several BIPOC characters previously voiced by white actors.
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For example, Alex Désert debuted on the show in September as the new voice of Homer Simpson’s friend and colleague, Carl Carlson, a black man for whom Azaria previously provided the voice. Meanwhile, Harry Shearer will be Springfield’s mild-mannered physician, Dr. Julius Hibbert, stop speaking. Instead, voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson, who has appeared as other characters in more than 70 episodes of the show, will take the helm.