Hank Azaria has revealed he will no longer be providing the voice of Apu in future episodes of The Simpsons. There has been a growing controversy regarding Azaria's portrayal of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon since the release of the 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, where comedian Hari Kondabolu discussed Apu being a negative stereotype, even though he was the only South Asian character on mainstream American television for a long time.
Apu debuted in the 1990 The Simpsons episode "The Telltale Head" and he has been voiced by Azaria in all of his appearances since. Azaria based the Apu voice on a 7-Eleven clerk near his home and pitched it to The Simpsons writers, which led to Apu becoming one of the most popular characters on the show. The voice actor has responded to the criticisms of his performance as Apu in the past and has said Azaria is willing to no longer play Apu in previous interviews. This came as a response to an episode of The Simpsons called “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” where Lisa and Marge give a baffling response to the Apu controversy, and Azaria did his best to distance himself from the statements made by the characters in the show.
There have been rumors circulating Azaria meant what he said when he was thinking of leaving the role, even though producers denied Apu was being written out of The Simpsons. It has now been confirmed by Slash Film that Azaria has retired his Apu voice and will no longer be playing the character on The Simpsons. Azaria said:
“All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore, unless there’s someway to transition it or something... We all made the decision together...We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.”
It should be clarified that this doesn't mean that Azaria is leaving The Simpsons for good, as he also provides the roles of characters like Carl Carlson, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, and Moe Szyslak. This just means he won't be providing Apu's voice anymore. It's possible that The Simpsons writes Apu out of the show completely, or that he will be recast with a new actor. The Simpsons producers have already recast the roles of Martin Prince and Sherri & Terri, following the death of Russi Taylor in 2019, so the same could happen for Apu.
The Simpsons has been renewed up to its 32nd season, so there are still plenty of episodes of the show to come. The question now is whether Apu will be written out of the show with a tearful goodbye to Azaria, whether the character will slowly fade into the background with no explanation given, or if the role will be recast. It's possible that The Simpsons will hire a South Asian actor to play the role of Apu and the character could be changed to make him less of a stereotype, or maybe they'll hire another white guy and keep the character unchanged, just to spite the producers of The Problem with Apu.
Source: Slash Film
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