Hank Azaria apologises for voicing Indian character Apu in The Simpsons
Hank Azaria, who voiced the Indian character Apu on The Simpsons, today apologised for playing the role, the BBC reports.
Hank - who's white - had played the convenience store owner since 1990, the report added, saying he had first announced he was stepping down from voicing Apu in January 2020.
"Part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologise," the BBC reported Hank as saying when speaking on Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert podcast.
The Apu character had been criticised for years for reinforcing racial stereotypes.
According to the BBC, Hank told the podcast he initially 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'.
The actor said he "read, spoke to people who knew a lot about racism, spoke to lots of Indian people and went to seminars".
"I realised I have had a date with destiny with this thing for 31 years."
Comments