Insight: Hank Azaria’s Current Take On “Apu” Is Absolute Subjectivity And Is An Empty Gesture At Best

Hank Azaria’s Brockmire has been canceled, and the actor is officially out of work, except for his role on The Simpsons which is increasingly diminishing as is star value as an actor. He has no movie roles in development, with Hank now relegated to being a podcast host.

To try and help this, Hank’s been kicking off an apology tour for his role as “Apu” on The Simpsons. The role which actually garnered Hank an Emmy win does not agree with current trends in voice-acting which deems it racist if white actors voice BIPOC roles despite the fact that in the animation industry rules aren’t supposed to apply when it comes to this particular art form. Nevertheless, Hank has taken the route of admitting that “Apu” is a racist depiction of South Asians.

In a recent episode of Armchair Expert, in an excerpt transcribed from THR, Hank’s take on the role of “Apu” seems to be formed by a single interaction with an interaction with an Indian teenager:

“I was speaking at my son’s school, I was talking to the Indian kids there because I wanted to get their input,” Azaria said. “A 17-year-old … he’s never even seen The Simpsons but knows what Apu means. It’s practically a slur at this point. All he knows is that is how his people are thought of and represented to many people in this country.”

The boy, “with tears in his eyes,” Azaria said, asked the actor to tell Hollywood writers what they do matters and has ramifications on people’s lives. Azaria said he would deliver the message.

“I really do apologize,” Azaria said. “It’s important. I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that. Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize. And sometimes I do.”

Matt Groening recently noted that the show’s producers are looking for a way to exit the “Apu” character, in the meantime, the creator for The Simpsons will help curate a music playlist for NTS starting on April 19th of which you can get more details for here.

A new episode of The Simpsons premieres a new episode this Sunday Night @ 8 pm ET/PT, only on FOX, check your local listings.

Our Take

If Hank feels this way, then he should go to every fat guy that works at a Comic shop and apologize for the way he depicts “comic nerds”. If he really was sorry, why not decline the royalties from The Simpsons that he’s made over the years and give back the Emmy he won for the role? As for the kid, every teenager is labeled something shitty. For me, it was the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Every kid would walk up to me, poke my stomach, and do the “woo hoo!” bit. Did I cry over it? Sure, sometimes. Am I going to write a letter to Pillsbury? No.

According to the CDC, the rate of suicide has been increasing the last several years among teenagers. The United States of America, in it’s recent US Census, is still roughly a 73% white population. Even taking out mixed-race, the white population accounts for over 60%. As a result, the rate of suicide among teenagers is going to be proportionally white US citizens. Actual issues that contribute to suicide include depression and psychological stress (examples being gender/body dis-morphia). Nowhere does a report say South Asians’ leading cause of depression or suicide is that of a fictional cartoon character in The Simpsons. Is the aforementioned teenager’s biggest threat “Apu”? Statistically, no.

Hank’s take on “Apu” being racist is purely subjective and empty, because he can always write a check for all of those “Apu” royalties and just give it all back.