The Official Simpsons Griefing Thread

  • 🏰 The Fediverse is up. If you know, you know.
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
Hank Azaria Says He’s Willing to ‘Step Aside’ From Controversial Apu Role

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Hank Azaria addressed the controversy over one of the “Simpsons” characters he voices, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Apu’s portrayal came under scrutiny after the documentary “The Problem with Apu” brought attention to the stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants that the character presents.

“I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it,” Azaria said. “I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room…including how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. I’m perfectly willing to step aside. It just feels like the right thing to do to me.”

Azaria said he understood the controversy surrounding his character. “It’s come to my attention more and more over the past couple years,” he said.

“The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad,” he continued. “It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people.”

“The Simpsons” attempted to respond to the criticism with the episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” in which Marge tries to alter a book from a previous era that she’s reading to Lisa to be less offensive. Lisa addresses the camera, saying, “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?”

After some criticized the episode’s handling of the issue, showrunner Al Jean tweeted that he’d “continue to try and find an answer that is popular & more important right.”

Of the “Simpsons'” response, Azaria said, “I had nothing to do with the writing or the voicing [in that episode]. I think if anyone came away from that segment thinking they need to lighten up…that’s definitely not the message that I want to send.”

Azaria indicated he was open to change regarding his role as Apu. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and as I say my eyes have been opened.”
http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/hank-azaria-apu-step-aside-1202786117/
 
Sexy Times Hitler said:
Hank Azaria Says He’s Willing to ‘Step Aside’ From Controversial Apu Role

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Hank Azaria addressed the controversy over one of the “Simpsons” characters he voices, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Apu’s portrayal came under scrutiny after the documentary “The Problem with Apu” brought attention to the stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants that the character presents.

“I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it,” Azaria said. “I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room…including how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. I’m perfectly willing to step aside. It just feels like the right thing to do to me.”

Azaria said he understood the controversy surrounding his character. “It’s come to my attention more and more over the past couple years,” he said.

“The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad,” he continued. “It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people.”

“The Simpsons” attempted to respond to the criticism with the episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” in which Marge tries to alter a book from a previous era that she’s reading to Lisa to be less offensive. Lisa addresses the camera, saying, “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?”

After some criticized the episode’s handling of the issue, showrunner Al Jean tweeted that he’d “continue to try and find an answer that is popular & more important right.”

Of the “Simpsons'” response, Azaria said, “I had nothing to do with the writing or the voicing [in that episode]. I think if anyone came away from that segment thinking they need to lighten up…that’s definitely not the message that I want to send.”

Azaria indicated he was open to change regarding his role as Apu. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and as I say my eyes have been opened.”
http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/hank-azaria-apu-step-aside-1202786117/
Click to expand...
Be interesting to see what happens after this point.
 
vertexwindi said:
Honestly they could have just said nothing and let it blow over. Who even cares about The Simpsons in 2018?
Click to expand...

Obviously enough people care that it got renewed yet again for next season.

The show needs to do one of two things:

1) Completely upend the status quo by doing an entire season with the cast aged up. Like set during one of those "future" episodes they do every once in a while, taking a page from the Roseanne reboot or something. If they set it during one of the recent future episodes, they could earn SocJus brownie points by showing Lisa's lesbian threesome relationship or Martin Prince all trooned out. Either way, they just need to blow up the status quo for good at this point and just do something completely different that gets people talking again and breathes just a little more life into the series. I mean, if Archer at this point can get away with doing different anthology seasons, I don't see why the Simpsons can't.

2) Just let the show die. At this point, it'd be well past a mercy killing IMHO.
 
Sexy Times Hitler said:
Hank Azaria Says He’s Willing to ‘Step Aside’ From Controversial Apu Role

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Hank Azaria addressed the controversy over one of the “Simpsons” characters he voices, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

Apu’s portrayal came under scrutiny after the documentary “The Problem with Apu” brought attention to the stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants that the character presents.

“I think the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it,” Azaria said. “I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room…including how [Apu] is voiced or not voiced. I’m perfectly willing to step aside. It just feels like the right thing to do to me.”

Azaria said he understood the controversy surrounding his character. “It’s come to my attention more and more over the past couple years,” he said.

“The idea that anyone young or old, past or present, being bullied based on Apu really makes me sad,” he continued. “It certainly was not my intention. I wanted to bring joy and laughter to people.”

“The Simpsons” attempted to respond to the criticism with the episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” in which Marge tries to alter a book from a previous era that she’s reading to Lisa to be less offensive. Lisa addresses the camera, saying, “Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?”

After some criticized the episode’s handling of the issue, showrunner Al Jean tweeted that he’d “continue to try and find an answer that is popular & more important right.”

Of the “Simpsons'” response, Azaria said, “I had nothing to do with the writing or the voicing [in that episode]. I think if anyone came away from that segment thinking they need to lighten up…that’s definitely not the message that I want to send.”

Azaria indicated he was open to change regarding his role as Apu. “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and as I say my eyes have been opened.”
http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/hank-azaria-apu-step-aside-1202786117/
Click to expand...

Who would this even help at this point? The show will be 29 goddamned seasons long in September!
 
Quijibo69 said:
The sad part is now there's more shitty seasons than good ones now.
Click to expand...
BubbleButt said:
That was a fact, like, a decade ago.
Click to expand...
Let's do a little math, because I really want to emphasize this.

Let's say the first 10 seasons were the good years. You don't have to agree with season 10 or even 9 being "good" but 10 gives us a nicer number.

The Simpsons is in its 29th season and is very likely to be renewed for a 30th. That means that The Simpsons has only been good for 1/3 of its run. That's even less if you modify it so there was only 8 good seasons.
 
Baldur's Gait said:
Let's do a little math, because I really want to emphasize this.

Let's say the first 10 seasons were the good years. You don't have to agree with season 10 or even 9 being "good" but 10 gives us a nicer number.

The Simpsons is in its 29th season and is very likely to be renewed for a 30th. That means that The Simpsons has only been good for 1/3 of its run. That's even less if you modify it so there was only 8 good seasons.
Click to expand...
That is very true. And even if it had stopped at 30, something like Apu being a problem right now just kinda feels like a wasted excuse despite how many episodes he's been in by this point. The worst they could do is pull a Derpy on us and never bring him out again for the remainder of the series, perhaps have him silently appear in the series finale and that's it, but the show will still continue to be in reruns for who know show long somewhere out there in TV land for years to come.
 
Trilby said:
That is very true. And even if it had stopped at 30, something like Apu being a problem right now just kinda feels like a wasted excuse despite how many episodes he's been in by this point. The worst they could do is pull a Derpy on us and never bring him out again for the remainder of the series, perhaps have him silently appear in the series finale and that's it, but the show will still continue to be in reruns for who know show long somewhere out there in TV land for years to come.
Click to expand...
But the real question would be "What would they do with the Kwik-E-Mart?" Sure, it doesn't appear much anymore, but it's still a very integral part of Springfield and the show's own lore.
 
Jewelsmakerguy said:
But the real question would be "What would they do with the Kwik-E-Mart?" Sure, it doesn't appear much anymore, but it's still a very integral part of Springfield and the show's own lore.
Click to expand...
That's my concern. It would be a shame to simply not go there anymore or having to create a whole new person who runs it (or just have that pimple-faced teen do it). Again, nobody sees the big picture in this.
 
Plus it's not even just Apu. Now there's Manjula, the octuplets, and Apu's brother. I remember his parents were in the arranged marriage episode too, not sure if they've been seen since, but I imagine they'd all have to go too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom