‘The Simpsons’ producer confirms Apu is being written out of the show - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/simpsons-confirm-apu-leave-2394238 Well at least it's happening to Zombie Simpsons, so no genuinely big loss here, but still, fuck.

a show where literally every single character is an exaggerated stereotype cuts out a character of indo-asian decent for stereotypical behavior.

he had some great episodes.. i dont see how it's racist.

Stop, stop! The Simpsons are already dead!

Watch him get shot by some racists in-universe and then have the writers pretend it's thought-provoking.

They shouldn't be doing that. They are letting the real racists win, thr people who have a problem with it!

Yeah it's clear Apu's character did perpetuate stereotypes and often was used by kids to bully, but I feel like it's a bit too late to make any difference. The show isn't influential anymore.

My scope of Simpsons knowledge starts and ends in childhood when I watched it with my parents but Apu always seemed like the grounded character constantly dealing with everyones bullshit. I don't remember any negative stereotypes about him. Is it just because he is an Indian convenience store owner?

Pretty much yeah

Literally every side character in The Simpsons is a stereotype. That's the fucking joke. Luigi the pizza chef. Fat Tony the mob boss. Willie the perpetually angry Scotsman. Police Chief Wiggum who looks, acts, and sounds like a pig. Professor Frink who is a huge science nerd. Comic Book Guy the comic book nerd who doesn't even get a fucking name. There's a character named Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel who's only joke is that he's poor and his wife is also his sister, or mother, or both. Nah man. Apu is the racist character though. The most fleshed out, well rounded person in the entire Simpsons cast (including the Simpsons themselves) is a racist caricature because what exactly? His voice isn't accurate to Indians and he's voice by a white guy? No shit, he's a cartoon character and the guy doing his voice is an actor. It's racist because he's an immigrant? Are immigrants themselves a racist concept? Is it because he works at the Quik-E-Mart? The store he owns as part of an international franchise? What a fucking racist character. That successful, hard working man who is best friends with the main character and has only ever had his culture portrayed in a relevant and thoughtful manner. That man who has never been mocked for his race, religion, or background and is seen as one of the most stable and sensible characters on the show, if not the most sensible character. In fact the only character who is more mature in the show is Manjula, and she's his wife.

On one hand, this is incredibly stupid, on the other I haven't watched the simpsons in years. This certainly isnt going to change that.+

Thanks guys. As an Indian dude I thought I was pretty great that there was a character that represented me, it was a suave ass bro.

God forbid they have a diverse cast or someone with an accent. I swear the major underlying problem these people have with Apu is his accent, which is ridiculous.

I would disagree, Apu was used by an out of work comedian of Indian descent to make the documentary equivalent of a clickbait news article.

https://youtu.be/F68l9FozxJ8 it's a good watch and also show that Hari kondabolu is kinda full of himself

I think I mentioned this in another topic about the same issue, but I think you're touching at what the main issue is here. The Simpsons, in its prime, was as much a cutting satire on American culture and identity as much as it was a animated sitcom. Hence why you have characters like Wiggum, Cletus, and Luigi in the first place. Recall the (very) early days when Homer was a Walter Matthau imitation and was talking about going out for "frosty chocolate milkshakes," or just look at the episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" and you can clearly see that the Simpsons as a family were a caricature of the American Nuclear Family. It makes sense in this context that they would reside in a town that featured incapable police, dumb hicks and ethnic stereotypes. The humor came from how those stereotypes could be bucked, or extended to the nth degree. In the moment, a character like Apu was fantastic. He was absolutely a stereotype as an Indian shopkeeper and as a Hindu, but by the same token he was also a successful and dedicated business owner who genuinely loved the United States and the people of Springfield. They also used the episode "Much Apu About Nothing" to further establish him as highly educated beyond his station, and emphasize that he worked at the Kwik-E-Mart first to pay off his student debt and, later, because he grew to love the job and the people he had met in Springfield. And he's quite clearly successful, being able to support a family of ten and owning a vintage Pontiac Firebird. But now its 2018. Pretty much everything that The Simpsons had been established to poke fun at has vanished from the mainstream and now The Simpsons itself sits as a target of satire and mockery. Its pretty much well-agreed by now that the show has long lost any edge it once had, and in this modern context a character like Apu becomes much more problematic. What role is there for a character who's a caricature of a stereotype that has pretty much drifted out of American cultural consciousness? We've all grown up since the 1990s, the Simpsons doesn't really have that luxury.

Is gamergate no big deal if a minority care about ethics in journalism

Watch them go and immediately replace him with a never-before seen relative that is actually voiced by an indian voice actor and intentionally tries to avoid everything that has ever been criticized about Apu. I already predicted this a while back. They're not going to write the entire Quik-E-Mart out of the show, so this is their only way forward if they really think they need to get rid of Apu.

https://i.imgur.com/DsBh6QP.jpg

I would hardly call the simpsons intelligent and thoughtful these days, they've been fumbling the ball on that for a while.

Trying to derail the topic to be about Gamergate should be bannable to be honest

to be fair pretty much no one in Springfield is an overall good person. Apu is personally nice but he happily charges extortionate amounts for faulty and occasionally downright dangerous products, not to mention quickly becoming a satire of America's obscene work ethic anytime someone ends up working under him at the Kwik-E-Mart. but it really just illustrates a large part of what made The Simpsons so great: its ability to make a clear statement while not pulling any punches in favor of a particular side. Apu isn't just a polite immigrant and hard worker like some simpler social commentary - he's also the friendly local mouthpiece of a slimy corporation that never hesitates to screw him or others for a quick buck, and at the end of every episode he's as loyal to them and their outrageous markup as he ever was.

Is this the forum equivalent of typing the N-Word when you are angry?

I really don't get what happened. As everyone said here already, every Simpsons character are stereotypes, down to the titular family themselves. Not only that, the show proves time and time again despite any silliness, each character goes beyond their stereotypes and always show further depths that shows their personality and character beyond the funny surface of the stereotype. Plus, what really boggles my mind is why out of all the characters, why does it have to be Apu that is targeted to this treatment? He's one of the most genuinely likable characters in the show, given a lot of positive attributes with the surface wrapping being the funny stereotype, which everyone else is also subjected to. I mean heck he was my favorite character in The Simpsons Hit & Run game for being so lovable on top of having a cool car in the game.

Kneejerk reaction to some hackneyed documentary widdling the character down to "funny voice Indian dude who runs convenience store"

Because I'm trying to make the point that it feels really shitty to be told your misgivings or opinions don't matter because you're in the minority.

But these are two completely different situations?

What's the point in comparing two things if they are exactly the same?

I don't know if anyone watched the actual documentary or the creator's interviews, but there's more nuance to his opinion than "Apu is a racist stereotype". https://youtu.be/pRRkyPkKYwA

Not that I agree with removing Apu, he's not wrong. Back when I was in middle school, kids had to be restricted from entering the nearest convenience store at lunch time cause they'd get all rowdy and make fun of the Indian owners. They'd start mimicking Apu and speak in Indian accents and steal shit. Doesn't matter how good of a character Apu is, if kids think an accent is funny they're gonna make fun of it. Completely removing him is ridiculous though. Pretty much every character in the show is a stereotype, and if a little bit of controversy is enough to remove a character, they might as well end it now