Prolific voice actor Hank Azaria has apologised for voicing the Indian character Apu on The Simpsons.
Hank Azaria- who’s white – told Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert podcast (via BBC) that part of him “feels like [he] needs to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologise.”
While Hank Azaria had been voicing Apu since 1990, criticism has increased in recent years due to the release of the 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu, which argued that the character was reinforcing racial stereotypes.
Following the mounting backlash, Azaria announced he was stepping down from the role of Apu in January 2020.
Despite the decision, Azaria told the podcast he originally didn’t know whether to stop doing the voice or not, because he didn’t want to make a “knee-jerk reaction” to what could’ve just been “17 hipsters in a microbrewery in Brooklyn”.
As a result, he revealed he spent about a year “doing the work” as he came to terms with the critique.
Azaria said he “read, spoke to people who knew a lot about racism, spoke to lots of Indian people and went to seminars”.
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“I realised I have had a date with destiny with this thing for 31 years,” he said.
Azaria went on to explain that he realised the show was part of “structural racism”, despite the “good intentions” he had.
“I really didn’t know any better. I didn’t think about it. I was unaware how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens,” he said.
“Just because there were good intentions it doesn’t mean there weren’t real negative consequences to the thing that I am accountable for.”
Azaria continued on to personally apologise to the podcast’s co-host, Monica Padman, who is Indian-American.
“I really do apologise. I know you weren’t asking for that but it’s important…I apologise for my part in creating that and participating in that,” he said.
There has been a slew of changes to the voice cast of The Simpsons within the last year, with Kevin Michael Richardson replacing Harry Shearer as the voice of African-American character Dr Hibbert.
On top of that, Azaria also recently stepped down from voicing Carl and was replaced by Alex Désert.
Meanwhile, Apu is currently sidelined while a replacement actor is being found.
As the actors on The Simpsons usually voice several characters, some people have questioned whether it’s overly sensitive to replace the voices.
“I have people say to me, ‘Oh does this mean you can’t play [Chief] Wiggum because you’re not a real cop?’ That’s just ridiculous,” said Azaria.
“If it’s a character of colour, there’s not the same level of opportunity there. The first argument is, if it’s an Indian character, Latin character or Black character, please let’s have that person voice the character.”
“It’s more authentic, they might also bring their experience of their culture to it – and let’s not take away jobs from people who don’t have enough.”
For more on this topic, head over to the Film & TV Observer.
Check out the trailer for The Problem With Apu:
