Apu To Be Removed From The Simpsons

[Monkey Genius]

Shouldn't the solution then be to introduce more indian characters to the show rather than removing the one that's actually rather beloved.

Well, yes, that would've been a creative solution. But the Simpsons' solution was to take their ball and go home and whine about PC culture.

[MarkRodriguez09]

Exactly.

If there were different Indian characters depicted in different manners, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

But then won't we need more Scottish people, more Italian people, more everyone else so the other depictions aren't racist? I'm hispanic and i don't give a **** that their only Mexican is the Bumblebee Man.

Fox should just put their foot down. It's 30 years or so. It's too late to suddenly wake up and decide something offends you.

Quick, after 75 years let's all boycot the Joker cause we all know one family member or friend that suffers insanity and we suddenly find the Joker offensive to insane people, and create either a No More Joker documentary or hashtag. Oh, and it must be created by 10 people that never heard of Batman and has never seen or read anything with him in it.

[Username taken]

But then won't we need more Scottish people, more Italian people, more everyone else so the other depictions aren't racist? I'm hispanic and i don't give a **** that their only Mexican is the Bumblebee Man.

Fox should just put their foot down. It's 30 years or so. It's too late to suddenly wake up and decide something offends you.

Quick, after 75 years let's all boycot the Joker cause we all know one family member or friend that suffers insanity and we suddenly find the Joker offensive to insane people, and create either a No More Joker documentary or hashtag. Oh, and it must be created by 10 people that never heard of Batman and has never seen or read anything with him in it.

Length of time doesn't legitimize what could or couldn't be offensive to people. Blackface was acceptable for a long time before it was concluded that it was garbage.

Personally, I don't have any problem with Apu because I'm not Indian so I can't directly relate to their experiences regarding their interaction with other races and how they could be stereotyped.

If Apu's depiction has actually caused some stereotyping problems for actual Indians, then I don't think it should be dismissed. I think their concerns needs to be heard however, the means to address it is entirely up for debate.

[Mormel]

I think Raj on The Big Bang Theory has made Indians more main stream so probably not. You have to remember that Apu was the first Indian on TV most Americans were exposed to.
Now a lot more Indians are on TV in more diverse roles than just a convenience store owner. Raj has a PHD in astrophysics and is a working scientist.

I think Kumar from Harold & Kumar was far more of a watershed character than Raj is. Raj is a foreign student with a thick accent, while Kumar was raised in America. The past decade has seen a shift in the portrayal of South Asians in American media, more first or second generation South Asian American characters are appearing. America is late in this when compared to the UK, which is understandable considering UK cities are home to much larger and more visible South Asian communities. In the 90s, there was a sketch show on British television called 'Goodness Gracious Me'. It was a group of Indian actors poking fun at both Indian culture as well as at British society as a whole, and most importantly it was very, very funny. I think it kicked in a lot of doors and helped pave the way for other South Asian actors to land more substantial roles in TV shows and movies. From that point onward most Indian characters on British television were British, not foreign. Now, in America, actors like Sendhil Ramamurthy, Aziz Ansari, Dilshad Vadsaria, or Noureen DeWulf are likewise often appearing as Indian American characters, and not so often as foreign characters as they might have been cast as 20 years ago.

But that's a bit of a tangent. I think retiring Apu is not the right move; I haven't seen Simpsons in a while, but I remember Apu being a likeable character, and certainly one that looked favourable when acting as a foil for Homer; sure he had his shitbag moments or moments of incompetence, but that's part and parcel of being a character on the Simpsons; Springfield's entire community consists of bumbling, dysfunctional individuals, so as to act as a mirror for the audience-- but when it comes to the crunch, most of them are good people. It would be better to keep Apu on the show and tone down those aspects of him that would come across as insensitively stereotypical. Do something with the feedback.

Here in the Netherlands, there used to be a comic book called Sjors & Sjimmie. Sjors was a blonde boy, while Sjimmie was a very stereotypical depiction of a black boy. He had huge lips and spoke in broken Dutch. When a new creative team took over the book in the 1970s, Sjimmie was re-imagined to be a modern teenager, with cool wits and a suave demeanour. It's in this incarnation that my mom read the book, and it was very popular among children. So re-imagining a character can be done.

[Coal Tiger]

Shouldn't the solution then be to introduce more indian characters to the show rather than removing the one that's actually rather beloved.

That would have been a solution. Instead, Simpsons writers insisted there was no problem.

[MarkRodriguez09]

That would have been a solution. Instead, Simpsons writers insisted there was no problem.

Because there is no problem. Apu is an awesome character and these guys are just looking to create the next big hashtag drama.

Bumblebee Man solely exists on his Mexican stereotype gimmick and doesn't get entire episodes devoted to him like Apu, as does Consuelo on FG. Where are the hoards of angry and offended Mexican Americans with their documentaries and hashtags? Same with all the other stereotypes on those shows.

If Apu is gone cause Fox lost their balls, who's next?

[Username taken]

I think Kumar from Harold & Kumar was far more of a watershed character than Raj is. Raj is a foreign student with a thick accent, while Kumar was raised in America. The past decade has seen a shift in the portrayal of South Asians in American media, more first or second generation South Asian American characters are appearing. America is late in this when compared to the UK, which is understandable considering UK cities are home to much larger and more visible South Asian communities. In the 90s, there was a sketch show on British television called 'Goodness Gracious Me'. It was a group of Indian actors poking fun at both Indian culture as well as at British society as a whole, and most importantly it was very, very funny. I think it kicked in a lot of doors and helped pave the way for other South Asian actors to land more substantial roles in TV shows and movies. From that point onward most Indian characters on British television were British, not foreign. Now, in America, actors like Sendhil Ramamurthy, Aziz Ansari, Dilshad Vadsaria, or Noureen DeWulf are likewise often appearing as Indian American characters, and not so often as foreign characters as they might have been cast as 20 years ago.

But that's a bit of a tangent. I think retiring Apu is not the right move; I haven't seen Simpsons in a while, but I remember Apu being a likeable character, and certainly one that looked favourable when acting as a foil for Homer; sure he had his shitbag moments or moments of incompetence, but that's part and parcel of being a character on the Simpsons; Springfield's entire community consists of bumbling, dysfunctional individuals, so as to act as a mirror for the audience-- but when it comes to the crunch, most of them are good people. It would be better to keep Apu on the show and tone down those aspects of him that would come across as insensitively stereotypical. Do something with the feedback.

Here in the Netherlands, there used to be a comic book called Sjors & Sjimmie. Sjors was a blonde boy, while Sjimmie was a very stereotypical depiction of a black boy. He had huge lips and spoke in broken Dutch. When a new creative team took over the book in the 1970s, Sjimmie was re-imagined to be a modern teenager, with cool wits and a suave demeanour. It's in this incarnation that my mom read the book, and it was very popular among children. So re-imagining a character can be done.

This is a very elegant solution.

Simply re-imagine the character.

[Flashback]

Because there is no problem. Apu is an awesome character and these guys are just looking to create the next big hashtag drama.

Bumblebee Man solely exists on his Mexican stereotype gimmick and doesn't get entire episodes devoted to him like Apu, as does Consuelo on FG. Where are the hoards of angry and offended Mexican Americans with their documentaries and hashtags? Same with all the other stereotypes on those shows.

If Apu is gone cause Fox lost their balls, who's next?

I think it's because most Mexicans know that Bumblebee man is a parony of El Chapulín. It's why he's in the suit in the first place.

[Miles To Go]

Al Jean responds to the rumours, says Shankar does not speak for them but does not commit to a definitive answer on what will be done with Apu.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46017390

[MarkRodriguez09]

I think it's because most Mexicans know that Bumblebee man is a parony of El Chapulín. It's why he's in the suit in the first place.

And Apu is the 'Indian guy working in the 7-11 type store' stereotype.

And even so if we go by the Simpsons all Mexicans run around telling 'ay caramba, ayayayay ay dios mio'. Where's the big outrage demanding deeper and more serious Mexican American characters?

It's just oversensitve nonsense.

[Gaastra]

John talks about this.

[Gaastra]

"Simpsons not done with apu".

[mburns]

Ok. Yes, his whole family is Indian.

There are several white people on Simpsons depicted in several different ways.

Only Indians are Apu and his family.

Virtually all of whom are also stereo types or idiots. If any one should be offended by the Simpsons it should be white men.

Fat Tony - Italian mafia
Grounds Keeper Willie - Angry ignorant Scotsman
Cletus - Inbred Redneck
Mayor Quimby - Crooked Irish politician
Montgomery Burns - Evil old rich guy
Homer - Moron
Bart - Underachieving troublemaker
Chief Wiggum - Also a moron
His son Ralphie - Basically retarded

[TomServofan]

Who gives a **** about the show anymore? I've been a fan of the Simpsons since i saw them on Tracy Ullman in 87 and 88 when i was 5/6 and loved those shorts and i taped every episode of the show from 1989 to 2000 and the show should had DIED in 2001! It was a biting satrical show with intelligence, heart, soul, anti-authority social satire and excellence with a proper use of celebrity guest voices. Even quality writing with wit/snark/sarcasm and intelligence. I've been a fan of adult animation for a long time as i did saw some in the 80s like Rock & Rule on HBO which my parents taped for me with Twice Upon a Time when i was 4 in 86 with Starchaser Legend of Orin and Warriors of the Wind aka the butchered Nausicaa then at 5 saw Fire and Ice and Wizards with Lord of the Rings and fantastic planet with my big brothers on video. I even enjoyed Liquid TV with Aeon Flux (the shorts and spin off show), The Maxx, Duckman, Spawn, Heavy Metal, Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, Fritz the Cat, Akira with various anime even Cowboy Bebop, Princess Mononoke and others growing up in the 90s as a kid/teenager.



I gave up on this show in 2003 and i moved on to other adult animation as the show was getting soured/stale as i feel anything past season 10 is NOT The Simpsons but Zombie Simpsons! I feel The Simpsons is a product of the 90s and has no place in today's world when it should had died in 2001 with Futurama as it's replacement.



The show died in 2001 to me as i quit show after 2002 and gave up when we had better replacements like Futurama. Fox aka Sux ( a formerly great studio ran by people who care before they went for greed/caring about money more than quality just like Sony). I bet TRUE fans of the show who grew up in the late 80s and 90s like me who gave up after 2002 or 2003 or 2004 knew it was an abomination because gone was the intelligent satrical writing/soul/emotion/heart/intelligence is replaced by a living dead corpse of a show puppeted by the greedy Fox who only cares for money than quality as Simpsons is now just another Sitcom than a meaningful intelligent show with emotion/heart/intellgence/soul as The Simpsons feel irrelevant nowadays compared to the 90s Simpsons and of course other adult animation nowadays.



I tried to watch an episode of new Simpsons and man oh man i felt my brain was melting and wanted to punch the TV. Even seeing the Lady Gaga episode in clips nearly gave me cancer. although I’ve stuck with the zombie theme in saying that early episodes suffering from a subtle decline are like a “freshly bitten” zombie. You know something’s wrong with the person, you just can’t place it, and other people in the group keep trying to defend them, either due to denial or willful ignorance. But then as the wound starts festering and the infected person starts eying everyone’s craniums, you get more and more suspicious until the bitten individual latches on to one of the last stubborn members in the group who is in mid speech defending them, and takes a bite out of their face. At that point, most of the group acts accordingly, and anyone still willing to defend the zombie deserves what’s coming to them, getting killed or infected themselves.



But the problem with Zombie Simpsons is that there’s a disproportionate amount of defenders in denial while the stinking, rotting corpse is gnawing on their skulls. We’re past B-flick territory and are firmly entrenched in Z-grade scripts.



Yet if the show ends next year, it's better to kill something than let it suffer for it's losing more viewers and merchandise sales are going down the drain. This show has became a wounded fatally dying soldier that was shot a bunch of times in a war field and seeping behind a building with other soldiers and is asking "please kill me! please kill me so i won't suffer anymore" or like a wounded half-dead animal that needs to be put down. The Simpsons had their place in the sun but since 2001 enough is enough, time to give up Fox and end this show next year! time to rest in peace, move on and done more than enough and more than enough episodes and more than enough episodes as it's becoming a joke of itself and Fox is hurting it's legacy and damaging it's legacy and i'm tired of it. I feel like Tom Atkins at the end of Halloween III with "Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!!!". Plus had a good run in the 90s.



It's not only beating a dead horse, it's also beating a dead chidhood/teenhood friend friend who needs to be buried. It's now a shambling soulless unfunny poorly written husk of a show that is braindead.



SINO (Simpsons in Name Only which is post 2001) or Zombie Simpsons is NOT The Simpsons, By almost any measurement, The Simpsons is the most influential television comedy ever created. It has been translated into every major language on Earth and dozens of minor ones; it has spawned entire genres of animation, and had more books written about it than all but a handful of American Presidents. Even its minor characters have become iconic, and the titular family is recognizable in almost every corner of the planet. It is a definitive and truly global cultural phenomenon, perhaps the biggest of the television age.



if you flip on FOX at 8pm on Sundays, you will see a program that bills itself as The Simpsons. It is not The Simpsons. That show, the landmark piece of American culture that debuted on 17 December 1989, went off the air more than a decade ago. The replacement is a hopelessly mediocre imitation that bears only a superficial resemblance to the original. It is the unwanted sequel, the stale spinoff, the creative dry hole that is kept pumping in the endless search for more money. It is Zombie Simpsons.



It's better to kill this undead zombie of a show and move on! this isn't the 90s anymore as we moved on and glad the ratings are down. I hear Matt wants to pull the plug next year. Sometimes dead is better like Jud Crandal in Pet sematary said.



it's no longer a relevant show anymore. Now Regular Show, Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, Castlevania, Bob's Burgers, Archer or any anime for more relevant adult animation than Zombie Simpsons. Now for example, Bojack Horseman has the same heart/soul/intelligence/spirit and wit of The Simpsons (aka the REAL Simpsons), not like Zombie Simpsons.



I also feel with Conan and some of the other writers left even Phil Hartman's death, the show went downhill. The first 10 seasons had life and since 2000 it's been on life support.



But you know what as i'm a futurama and King of the Hill fan, i'm very happy and glad they ended on good notes and didn't become shambling zombie corpses as it's better to let them rest in peace and move on to make new fresh adult animation.



Now the show is a vegetable these days and unwatchable as i'm glad i stopped watching the show in 2003 and moved on to other adult animation. I even saw the awful Simpsons movie in theaters which i had been waiting years to see after hearing in magazines since 1991 about it and it should had been made in the 90s and released around there or in 2000, now that would had been one hell of a thing instead of waiting too long as it's just Zombie Simpsons The Movie.



In 2003 i finally did said "so long childhood partner, i will miss you" as i knew the show is dead and i moved on to cherish this show on DVD on Simpsons 1 to 10.



someone once said that being a Simpsons fan is like having a beloved relative or childhood/teenhood friend who’s been on life support for years and you’ve accepted they’re gone so you’re just waiting for someone to realize they need to pull the plug on them

[Zero Hunter]

I thought they said a while ago that the show was getting close the end anyway. Wasn't the main reason the writers and producers wanted to keep going was to pass Gunsmoke for the most episodes of any TV show in history? They did that a little while ago.