Don't forget all the Asian News Reporters.... one was named Name Toyota Suzuki Nissan Mitsubishi... highly offensive.
I have an Indian friend who was a huge Simpsons fan. He could quote entire scenes from several episodes. This topic came up recently and he said that he now thinks the Apu character should be shelved. It’s not that he doesn’t recognize the humor or even the times where they gave him genuine humanity. He doesn’t like that it’s a white actor doing it, probably based on white writers. It would be different if Indians or South Asians were involved in the development and voicing of the character. To him, Apu is essentially a case if “brown face”. He compared it to John Wayne as Ghengis Khan, Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, etc. I felt the same as many people here. Funny character, just another walking stereotype like every other character, we shouldn’t take it so seriously. It’s not the Simpson’s that should be blamed, but rather the lack of diverse representation of South Asians in TV/film that is the problem. But I think my friend made a good point as well.
This is kinda what my train of thought is...really they’re just mad it’s a white guy doing it instead of a brown guy. Does it become funny again if we pull a literal brown convenience store clerk out of his store and put him on tv? Is it funny if it’s just Apu clerking in India with no accent? Is it funny if Apu talked like an American? Could you go to China, watch the simpsons in Chinese and be mad that Asians were voicing white people?
Do people even watch the simpsons anymore? I don’t think I missed a single episode until I was 18... but since 2008 I’ve maybe seen 4 episodes.
I hope your friend is equally outraged that Bart is voiced by a woman, Dr Hibbert is voiced by a white man (is that LITERAL black face???), etc. I mean seriously, a "black face" reference about voice actors?
I’m sure he would have a problem for any racial minority who is being stereotyped on the show, particularly without involvement of any person of that race on the show. A Cliff Huxtable character on the show isn’t a black stereotype. It’s a reference to a specific character on another show. Not sure what he thinks about that, but I guess he wouldn’t consider it as big a deal. And I don’t get the relevance of Bart being voiced by a woman. Misses the point entirely.
So if Apu was a play on an Indian character that had previously existed on tv it suddenly wouldn't matter that the character was voiced by a white person? The relevance is you are saying your friend sees it as a form of "black face" for a white actor to voice Apu. A white actor also voices a black character and a woman voices a man. These are "types" that are being performed by someone else. Is that offensive?
If it was an Indian character that goes against the grain of racial stereotypes in the public consciousness, it would not be as big a deal. Obviously. No. And a white boy with blonde hair being voiced by a white man with black hair wouldn’t be offensive either. Nor would it be offensive If it turns out a man is making Maggie’s sucking a pacifier noises. The issue isn’t simply different “types”. It is the combination of making jokes that exploit a racial stereotype and also doing so without any apparent involvement of people of that race. Look, I think Apu is hilarious. This really doesn’t bother me (I am Indian). Maybe I’d feel different if I was harassed as a kid with mocking Apu jokes, like some others have experienced. Can you really blame Indians who are bothered by this?
People have a right to be offended but that doesn’t mean there was some sort of racial bias or that the Simpsons need to apologize.
This is the most logical and reasonable thing I've heard in regards to this. I think Hank Azaria would completely agree with your friend. I think that they'll find a way to write him off at some point in the near future. It would be a shame for him to just disappear because Apu has been such a great character. Give him a proper sendoff.
I'm sure he would. After he made millions and millions of dollars voicing characters Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, voice actors should only voice their own race. So the only real solution is as a Jew he is not allowed to voice any of his characters anymore, Dan Castellaneta should be fired for antisemitism and Hank can voice Krusty. Then he can donate all of his blood money.
There are a billion too many people in India but hey let's focus on cartoon brown face and prove we're shallow Americans to the core. #thoughtsandprayers
