‘The Simpsons’ voice actor Hank Azaria has responded to discussions about whether popular Apu Nahasapeemapetilon promotes racial stereotypes, following the release of documentary ‘The Problem With Apu’.
Made by comedian Hari Kondabolu, the film explores the “one-dimensional” Kwik-E Mart worker through interviews, as Hari speaks to famous Indian and Indian-American actors about racial-stereotyping and whether they find Apu offensive.
Hank - a white actor who has voiced Apu since 1989 - declined to be interviewed for Hari’s film, but has now responded in a short interview with TMZ.
He told the website: “I think the documentary made some really interesting points and gave us a lot to think about and we really are thinking about it.
Following the documentary’s release, Hari has explained his reasons for making it on multiple occasions.
“Of course [Apu is] funny, but that doesn’t mean this representation is accurate or right or righteous,” he previously told the BBC. “It gets to the insidiousness of racism… because you don’t even notice it when it’s right in front of you. It becomes so normal that you don’t even think about it.”
On Sunday (3 December), he took to Twitter, writing: “Apu doesn’t ‘offend’ me, he ‘insults’ me...and my community. I’m an adult with bigger things to deal with.
“My film was meant to tell you to go fuck yourself & discuss why I want you to go fuck yourself & how we can prevent future incidents of people wishing others “self-fuckery.” [sic]