Al Jean Would Have Cast “Apu” Differently If “The Simpsons” Were Recast Today

Fun fact: Al Jean and Mike Reiss helped create the character of “Apu” for The Simpsons and noted that they had no intention of making the character stereotypical and did not want to offend viewers. They cast Hank Azaria who claims that the writers WANTED a stereotypical accent for the character. Regardless of whom you believe, the Emmy-winning role has been a tiresome tragedy of cancel culture but that hasn’t stopped Al from noting that he is super proud of the character.

In a new interview, Jean told Radio Times: “If we were casting the character now, we’d cast someone who was ethnically correct to play Apu. The way we always wrote him, though, was as a hardworking, thoughtful family man who was smarter than everyone else in Springfield. The majority of the jokes were about Springfield not appreciating what a gem he is. So we’re proud of him.”

Hank Azaria has since claimed that he is retiring the character. 

Our Take

Al should definitely be proud of Apu. The character has helped a show reach so much stratosphere in terms of historical importance that The Simpsons are still regarded as important figure-heads of pop-culture relevance. I can’t buy into the fact that the writers and producers for The Simpsons are racist and neither can I for Hank Azaria. The irony is that on Sunday’s episode, Hank brought back Dredrick Tatum, a black man with a lisp. Where’s the uproar over that?