Accusations of racial stereotyping
Apu's portrayal has been accused by many as being a racist caricature of Indians and South Asians in general and was criticized as showing bias along racial/ethnic lines and called "brownvoice" (similar to "blackface"). A 2011 magazine article accused Apu of replicating "model minority" stereotypes.
According to Kondabolu, in a Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell web-exclusive segment, there were negative reactions to Apu in the Indian-American community, as well as the greater Desi community. Pakistani-American comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani has also criticized the character, relating that early in his career, he was asked to do "the Apu accent", a stereotyped version of the speech patterns of Indians. In a 2007 interview, Azaria acknowledged some of this criticism when he recalled a conversation with the writers of the show during the inception of the character: "Right away they were like 'Can you do an Indian accent and how offensive can you make it?' basically. I was like, 'It's not tremendously accurate. It's a little, uh, stereotype,' and they were like, 'Eh, that's all right.'" In a 2013 interview with The Huffington Post, Azaria said it should not be expected that the character's accent would "suddenly change now" or that the character would be written out, saying, "I'd be surprised if [the show's writers] write him any less frequently because he's offensive."
In 2016, Kondabolu announced his intention to produce a documentary about "how this controversial caricature was created, burrowed its way into the hearts and minds of Americans and continues to exist – intact – twenty-six years later". In 2017, Kondabolu released the hour-long documentary The Problem with Apu, in which he interviews actors and comics of South Asian heritage about the impact that the character of Apu has had on their lives and the perception of South Asians in American culture.
In April 2018, The Simpsons reacted to the controversy surrounding Apu in the episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished". Marge introduces Lisa to her favorite childhood book, but is shocked by its racist stereotypes and attempts to rewrite it to suit modern sensitivities. Lisa is bored by this revised version, and Marge asks what she should do; Lisa replies "It's hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?" She then looks at a picture of Apu with "Don't have a cow, man" written on it, and the two characters say that the issue will be dealt with later, if at all. Kondabolu said that he was saddened by the show's dismissive take on the controversy. Mike Reiss, The Simpsons' longtime writer and producer, acknowledged the problem, and pointed out that Apu had not had a line in the show for the last three years.
During an appearance that same month on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Azaria said that he would be "perfectly willing to step aside" from the role of voicing Apu, saying that he was increasingly worried about the character causing harm by reinforcing stereotypes and that "the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it ... I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers' room, genuinely informing whichever direction this character takes." Kondabolu had a positive reaction to Azaria's comments.
In an interview with USA Today, creator Matt Groening dismissed the criticism of the Apu character, saying, "I think it's a time in our culture where people love to pretend they're offended". Dana Walden, the CEO of 20th Century Fox Television, said in an August 2018 interview in regard to the Apu controversy that the network trusts the showrunners "to handle it in the way that's best for the show". In October 2018, in the South Park episode "The Problem with a Poo", Mr. Hankey is expelled and sent to a land where "people don't care about bigotry and hate" – Springfield. The episode ended with a title card, #cancelthesimpsons, similar to the promo for South Park that called for the cancellation of itself. That said, on the DVD commentary South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone stated that the people on The Simpsons are their friends and that joke was not a jab at The Simpsons but at the documentary and that they found it amusing how many misinterpreted the joke as an attack on The Simpsons. Al Jean also tweeted about the episode "It's actually in favor of us saying people are too critical."
In the UK, Hugo Rifkind criticized in The Times what he characterized as the prevalent attitude concerning potentially offensive material: that the possibility that somebody might be offended is enough for material to be considered offensive. He also stated that Apu is portrayed very positively, smarter than every other character except for Lisa, and that the show was much ruder about other characters like Ned Flanders, Krusty and Groundskeeper Willie.
On October 26, Adi Shankar stated in an interview with IndieWire that Apu would be leaving The Simpsons. On October 29, 2018, executive producer Al Jean responded to the speculation and stated that "Adi Shankar is not a producer on The Simpsons. I wish him the best but he does not speak for our show". On August 27, 2019, several sources reported that Groening had confirmed Apu's continued position on the show during the Simpsons panel at Disney's D23 Expo, telling a fan who asked whether or not Apu would remain, "Yes. We love Apu. We're proud of Apu."
Azaria announced on January 17, 2020, that he and the production team agreed to allow him to step away from voicing Apu, "unless there's some way to transition it or something". Azaria had followed the debate over the previous years since Kondabolu's essay and documentary, read up on and attended seminars on racism and social consciousness, and spoken to Indian-American colleagues including fellow actor Utkarsh Ambudkar (who had performed as Apu's nephew in "Much Apu About Something") about the situation. He came to understand the issues around the character of Apu compared to the other stereotypical characters on The Simpsons was the idea of permissible use, which led to his decision to quit voicing Apu. Azaria said, "There hasn't been an outcry over these [other] characters [that play on non-South Asian stereotypes] because people feel they're represented. They don't take it so personally, nor do they feel oppressed or insulted by it."
On June 26, 2020, it was stated that "Moving forward, The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters." This follows Mike Henry stating that he will no longer voice the African-American character Cleveland Brown on fellow Fox animated series Family Guy, and Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell's announcement that they will no longer voice mixed-race characters on Big Mouth and Central Park, respectively. There were plans for the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon to make an appearance in season 33. However, Groening stated "we have to see if we can make the stories work".
In the April 12, 2021, episode of Dax Shepard's podcast Armchair Expert, Azaria apologized for "racism, my participation in racism, or at least in a racist practice or in structural racism, as it relates to showbusiness or...all the above." One reaction to Azaria's apology came from actress and writer Mellini Kantayya, who, in a Washington Post opinion piece, wrote that hearing Azaria's concession "and for him to say so not in a carefully crafted PR statement, but in a conversation long after the news cycle had moved on, caught me off guard. Azaria reached his conclusions after years of learning and reflection. He recognized how his work had hurt Indian Americans and wanted to start making amends. That's why I cried. His apology was cold comfort, given my past, but the validation and acknowledgment still mattered."
In 2022, comedian and entertainer Akaash Singh made a comedy stand up special called "Bring Back Apu", where he claims that the character is "not racist", and represented the American Dream.
Azaria and Kondabolu did a joint interview on the topic with the radio program All Things Considered in April 2023. In an April 2025 interview with Pablo Torre, Azaria explained he felt he was "participating in a harm" because Apu was the most famous representation of South Asians in media and is often used as a caricature to support anti-Indian sentiment.
