General / Off-Topic The Simpsons Apu Controversy: Actor Explains Why He Will No Longer Voice The Character

Can't see much of a "future" for the Apu character now, no white actor will touch it now.....he'll have to be voiced by an Indian actor, but who would touch a character that is a stereotype of their culture?

To be honest regardless of peoples views on comedy touching on racism or sexism or what ever ism you like, the thing which grates my gears are double standards.

As soon as 1 group is protected from being (bullied / persecuted / joked about / teased - delete as appropriate) in a program then imo the only fair thing to do is to treat ALL other groups / religions the same.

This is why I think South park got it right by telling the nay sayers to do one over the scientology show...... and is why The Simpsons folk are wrong if Apu goes. IF the writers have any integrity at all they will make sure he stays, and if he doesnt then imo they should treat all other dubious characters the same imo.

That said, I dont actually care that much, i am more interested in any potential double standards than i am the show itsself. It was moderately entertaining 3 decades ago when i was a teenager... and indeed a cynical person may even wonder if the whole thing isnt a publicity stunt to try to make The Simpsons relevant again..
 
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To be honest regardless of peoples views on comedy touching on racism or sexism or what ever ism you like, the thing which grates my gears are double standards.

As soon as 1 group is protected from being (bullied / persecuted / joked about / teased - delete as appropriate) in a program then imo the only fair thing to do is to treat ALL other groups / religions the same.

This is why I think South park got it right by telling the nay sayers to do one over the scientology show...... and is why The Simpsons folk are wrong if Apu goes. IF the writers have any integrity at all they will make sure he stays, and if he doesnt then imo they should treat all other dubious characters the same imo.

That said, I dont actually care that much, i am more interested in any potential double standards than i am the show itsself. It was moderately entertaining 3 decades ago when i was a teenager... and indeed a cynical person may even wonder if the whole thing isnt a publicity stunt to try to make The Simpsons relevant again..

I 100% agree, Hypocrisy is rife amongst the SJW brigade, I get the feeling "equality" is confused with "getting even" with them. The second someone starts picking and choosing who can be insulted or not is the second that someones opinion isn't worth anything at all.

Actually you could be right about publicity, I havn't watched the Simpsons for ages (other than catching the odd show here or there waiting for something else to come on).
 
Read your own reply, figure out which words you're putting in my mouth and ask yourself if you're even worth engaging.
Where do you draw the line? It's OK to say boys in the show are stupid, and girls are smart? It's OK to say that police officers are pigs? Rich people are evil? Every single utterance in satire based cartoons uses stereotypes as a magnifying glass on the weaknesses of our cultural classification of groups. That is the point of the dang show.

If you say - oh no that group is sacrosanct and they get their feelings hurt when they are characterized by the stereotype - not only are you missing the point of the joke, you set yourself on the path of deleting satire as a vehicle for pointing out the ignorant stereotypes.

So yes, if deleting a single group characterization meets with your sensibilities about satire you are on a dangerous path.

So it is never funny to make fun of human differences in any context? Nice.

That's where creating protected classes in the context of satire will lead. It's actually tragic that Hank doesn't get it. I guess he's fine with stupid middle class white guy Homer, and ugly Joe, and pig Wiggims, and his intellectually challenged son Ralph, but Apu, we don't want Apu's getting their feelings hurt. So no more Apu.

You can stick fork in Hank - he's done. (hope you get the reference there)
 
Its arguable that this is another pin in the lapel for cancel culture.
But Apu has been on TV all over the world for 31 years.
The Simpsons now is pretty much dead and walking out on this issue now is pretty pointless.
 
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This is silly. Flash back like fifteen years and the BBC was doing cartoons like Monkey Dust that really made fun of people- I suppose the difference was that Monkey dust was actually proper satire and not pap.
 
I suppose Universal Pictures will have to digitally edit out the Blue Raja from Mystery Men.

So offensive!
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I think I made a few mods spit out their tea when they thought about a forum with every title being ASCII art. I mean, can you imagine what every Aisling thread would have ASCII wise? It would be like a defaced school biology textbook almost overnight :D

Waifu ASCII and tenticles.
 

Paul_Crowther

Senior Community Manager
Frontier
Rightio, some posts tidied up and a new word that seems to have escaped past judgement has been bound into the flames of our forum censor. Please keep to discussing the topic of the thread rather than other things.

Also please ensure you keep this on the topic of one actor not feeling comfortable in playing a certain role. If it deviates into other territories we may need to step in.
 
He's too pathetic to stand up for things or is purposely helping with propoganda. It's very pathetic. I assume he's more into propoganda. He blatantly doesn't beleive what he is saying for one reason or another. That or he is acting, but they are all bad actors.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Da7PQE8O8


This is the proper response to this voice actor!! ><

Will they attack naboo next? It happened in the start of the first prequal!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr65tNQ0RTk

Can't see much of a "future" for the Apu character now, no white actor will touch it now.....he'll have to be voiced by an Indian actor, but who would touch a character that is a stereotype of their culture?

One with a sense of humour.

It's amazing how people don't understand or purposely attack the point of such portrayals. They have a purpose and are saying things(Even if unknown by the person(s) doing it.). But people don't like dealing with even the most remote amount of complexity. And these are formal subjects. Study actual comedy and writing going back to the greeks and study how real communication works. It's disgusting that this isn't stopped and is condoned. It's also not racist by definition. You just have to actually think out the real reason for it and then it's clear.

It's more amazing we have generations of so called actors attacking the basis of their own profession instead of educating people on the meaning and purpose and fixing the problem. Shows where we are now. This was the point of the star wars debacle. All of these, "professionals," in opposition of their natural responsibilities when they went into those professions(Which truly educated individuals are always on the side of and actively engaged in.). And their lack of understanding of those realities or their purposeful opposition to it.

Either way the base issue is they are not educated. No matter which arguments you choose, or which variety of it, this is the problem.

BTW, the reason we do what we do as humans is partly to maintian knowledge from our environemnt and past. Even if we don't consciously understand why or what we are doing. That has to be understood first. We are designed to do this. It's what keeps problems from getting worse. Literally those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. All of these things preserve things our brains translate even if we don't consciously understand it. That is minimally why we do it also. Brain is a harddrive collecting sensory data with very complex ways to manage the data. It need to store and keep as much data as possible including copying data from the past. As we can't copy paste like a real hard drive it's through communication and other things. It's why siblings fight for instance. That is communication. The behaviors are automated to make sure we do them no matter what. they are complex communication beyond our conscious understanding to preserve information. Because it takes much longer to regain that information once lost.

This was all understood and formally in even things like psycology until it was spot changed(which is illegal and unethical.) to fit some peoples ideas. We used to understand fighting in realtinoships, for instance, is needed as it's the brain activating what is basically an overclock and drawing out behavior to draw out others stored sensory data(fighting and yelling) like an information dump to process more vigorously to fill in blanks in data to even it out. The fighting is the solution. The problems is only the lack of data. So, stopping fighting makes the problems go on virtually forever hurting all involved(both now and in future generations as how much we learn is what we pass on. With some natural loss added.). The fighting is the mechanical solution. It's the only way to mechanically activate the parts of biology to fix it. We are designed on this concept. Forcing calmly talking does not do this and avoids it. The brain correctly activates to the level of the need. The yelling just shows the severity of the problem. We automatically fix these things. The real issues are all outside and previous to the situation and have nothing to do with the argument. It's literally the same as attacking symptoms. If you do it too much and stop the body from fixing itself you can kill the patient or further the disease. And anything you stop will need to be argued later. Requireing more of it and loosing overall as it's technically time sensitive(like interest in a bank.). We argue for a vital reason. Ignoring it is to our own risk and an increase in the harm. And by time we are arguing or yelling that much we do not know or understand the full reason for it which is why we do this. It's the only way to play catch up and try to reduce the real issues. BTW, this is why aggression is a common part of biology in all animals. And basically the basis of behavior. We fail into aggression mechanically on purpose. It's the meaning of prometheuses brother giving the animals their traits. Physical activity and aggression are related to learning and relearning(how to fix points of data we lack.) Phsycial ability lets you do things longer to gain knowledge to begin with. Aggression helps fill in things we never achieved and are lacking and need in a time sensitive manner. Basically because we messed up in a very vital way and it needs to be fixed now. This is all data collection. And the bigger the problem the bigger the need for the aggression. This is why the farther back in time you go the more this is emphasized in culture. Which we now stupidly call less civilized. Unless that is just ironically the correct term with the wrong connotation.

Basically, true complex communication is not conscious. It's automated. We aren't fundamentally that intelligent(All knowledge has to be gained over time via sensory info. The input to the brain.). That is why we argue(all meanings of the word argue.). To fix the lack. That is why the greeks emphasized vigorous argument for instance. All other cultures did this in other ways also. Sometimes through sports or other activities. But it all had the same meaning originally. This is all because the brain deals with all of this sensory data in a very complex way. It does the real work regardless to deal with our real stupidity. Which it does even beyond our ability to think it out or understand. Which is the product of which info we do or don't have. Which is why it has to do what it does at all cost. Everything we do are just primary, secondary, tertiary, etc layers of this playing against itself. Many times(Always) to draw out specific actions to get specific info. It's all automated. Conscious understanding only happens when sufficient info is present. The rest is before and trying to gain it. We cannot fundamentally outdo automated behaviour. There is a reason for it and that must be understood. Or silly things happen. And ignorance ensues.
 
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The voice of Apu, has nothing to do with the writing of the script, or any of the words; they are reading.

To leave, in such a dramatic way, can only be down to: Possible, negative social attention, to the 'stereotyping'. Making the speaker nervous about their future job prospects and so doing so, leaving in such a way, to possibly, enhance, their job prospects.

In its day. Apu, was funny, along with Ralph and his dad. Such things, have their time.
 
I suppose Universal Pictures will have to digitally edit out the Blue Raja from Mystery Men.

So offensive!
MV5BMTM2MjQxNTc4NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMDU1NDM3._V1_.jpg
Hell yeah.

There are things on tv and in movies that are really offensive...... this stuff is comedy and supposed to stir the pot; you either laugh or you don't.

"I'm not going to voice Apu anymore," he said. "So how much are you paying me this season then?"

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I watched the segment. It seemed a nuanced, eloquent and well-thought out perspective. The responses in this topic are to be expected. What Max Planck said about science holds true about culture as well: it progresses one funeral at a time.
 
I watched the segment. It seemed a nuanced, eloquent and well-thought out perspective. The responses in this topic are to be expected. What Max Planck said about science holds true about culture as well: it progresses one funeral at a time.

The problem is that some streotypes are fine while others are not, leading to a rather uneven conclusion. Check out an old TV show Monkey Dust which takes sterotypes and turns them inside out- its a million times as savage as the Simpsons could ever be and at the same time is social commentary of the time.
 
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