Apu To Be Dropped From The Simpsons

[sdp]

Basically an indian nobody ex-comedy central I believe made a documentary about why Apu was evil and SJW who come together over any issue for convenience sake because they're better than you decided Apu was now racist and a huge problem even though it really wasn't before. The Simpsons handled it like pretty much every controversy and the extreme left went nuts and the voice actor didn't like being associated with all the controversy from what I saw in the interviews and it makes sense since it's not a good strategy for tv/movie actors so I'm guessing that was a deciding factor. Matt Groening doesn't seem to give a crap and defended Apu but he also doesn't mind much anymore of what goes on with the Simpsons. The guy who made the documentary didn't even want Apu gone, he was mostly using the current political climate to make something with "relevance" and it worked but it went too far.

Apu will be missed. As far as the Simpsons ending, they are never going to end as I explain below.

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

That was just one voice actress, but what happens when it's someone who has to do multiple characters? Do you replace him? Throw out the characters that can't quite make the cut in impersonation? Or just shut down the whole show? What if someone from the Simpsons family themselves dies? Julie Cavner is 68, she's nearly 70. sh!t so's my dad.... The life of the show is practically resting on hers.

Because of these reasons people did think Season 30 or very soon it'd be the end of the Simpsons but just this year we heard from both Fox and Disney that there are basically no plans on the show ending. As soon as one of the main voice actors dies they'll just replace them and once one is replaced no one will bat an eye when the others are. Sad, but pretty much all foreign dubs of the Simpsons have gotten rid of their equally iconic casts at different points and the show continued.

[Coola Yagami]

I'm just curious what they're gonna do about the Kwick-E-Mart. I mean... it's one of the landmarks of the show. Will Bart and Millhouse suddenly stop going there? Will an episode destroy it and have Apu return to his country? I mean, how are they gonna do this? It's not like Miss Krapapple because even without her, the school and the other characters related to it can still function.

Hmm, I guess Snake will also appear less, since most of his cameos are him robbing Apu.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I'm just curious what they're gonna do about the Kwick-E-Mart. I mean... it's one of the landmarks of the show. Will Bart and Millhouse suddenly stop going there? Will an episode destroy it and have Apu return to his country? I mean, how are they gonna do this? It's not like Miss Krapapple because even without her, the school and the other characters related to it can still function.

Hmm, I guess Snake will also appear less, since most of his cameos are him robbing Apu.

Maybe James Woods will go back to working there by buying it from Apu

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Maybe James Woods will go back to working there by buying it from Apu

I actually said that to someone yesterday.

Except James Woods is an outspoken Conservative, and thus, not allowed to work anymore.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Life is only repetitive if you carry on with the same cycle in your day to day routine without a want or care to grow. Are you seriously praising the show for not caring to grow? Maybe it's because YOU find life repetitive and tiresome, but plenty in the world get out there and make something of themselves.

Oh my you’re right. Thankyou for enlightening me. I was about to go to my local Kwik-e-Mart for a slurpy.

How exactly should it have “grown” without totally changing? I guess they could have actually aged. The tone/humor would have stayed the same though. People have would have still complained that it was rehashing. Only with the kids being adults now.

Again I seriously doubt this is 100% true. I can’t help but feel it’s a joke or publicity stunt where he only leaves temporarily. It certainly attracts attention to the subject.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by sdp

Sad, but pretty much all foreign dubs of the Simpsons have gotten rid of their equally iconic casts at different points and the show continued.

Foreign dubs have no choice but to carry the show onwards because new episodes with the characters are still being made in the States, so that's a poor example. The show's made it abundantly clear that when a VA dies, the character is retired, or if a VA retires, the character is retired

That might change with Disney, (who have gone through at least two Kermit the Frogs since acquiring The Muppets), but for now, that policy in the show has cost us Troy, Maude, Edna, the Dinner lady etc.

[drgon78]

Dinner Lady?

[Utrommaniac]

I think the lunch lady at the school? I'd probably just scratch the confusion up to being cultural differences.


But my point stands that one of these days, they're going to lose half the cast or a significant part of the cast that can't be replaced as easily.


If they could replace an actor as easily as before, then they could easily have had Billy West come in to do Troy and Lionel once he had mastered the voice with Zapp Brannigan on Futurama. IDK, maybe it was the nature of Phil Hartman's death that made him irreplaceable.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

At this point yeah, I'm in the "just cancel it" camp. If they're now unable to do the kind of humor they've always done then it's time to close up shop.

What normal people can expect from lefties?
Their understanding of the humor is on the level of the kissless virgins in the puritanical church school. Everything that goes beyond it is "problematique" one way or the other. Gladly such idiots always fail, but still it's quite sad, that after so much years of progress Western culture is under threat of the hypocritical political censorship and puritanical ideology.

[sdp]

No one on either side of the debate actually watches current Simpsons ironically enough.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by sdp

No one on either side of the debate actually watches current Simpsons ironically enough.

this is so true and I am guilty of this. I'll watch the new Halloween episode every year and maybe an episode after that to check it out, but after that nope

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Utrommaniac

I think the lunch lady at the school?

Nah that character was recast.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Redeemer

this is so true and I am guilty of this. I'll watch the new Halloween episode every year and maybe an episode after that to check it out, but after that nope

Interesting. I still watch, and those are the episodes I usually skip.

[Papenbrook]

Good. I would have done the same thing.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by sdp

No one on either side of the debate actually watches current Simpsons ironically enough.

Originally Posted by Redeemer

this is so true and I am guilty of this. I'll watch the new Halloween episode every year and maybe an episode after that to check it out, but after that nope

Guess you didn’t read my first post. I watch every new season.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Papenbrook

Good. I would have done the same thing.

But, of course.

I wonder what kind of characters you would have in the comedy series if it was up to you?

Something tells me, that none, because, making fun of anyone would have been considered "racist, sexist, ableist, problematic, in a bad taste". This sure would have been a hit.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Foreign dubs have no choice but to carry the show onwards because new episodes with the characters are still being made in the States, so that's a poor example. The show's made it abundantly clear that when a VA dies, the character is retired, or if a VA retires, the character is retired

That might change with Disney, (who have gone through at least two Kermit the Frogs since acquiring The Muppets), but for now, that policy in the show has cost us Troy, Maude, Edna, the Dinner lady etc.

I don't like the idea either but it's most likely going to be happening. The powers that be at Fox specifically mentioned they had no interest in stopping the Simpsons even if the Disney deal hadn't happened, I posted that in another simpsons thread. And similar article on Disney wanting the Simpsons.

They mentioned they were going to get another voice actor when one of them threatened to quit like 2 years ago (was it Mr. Burns?) And they specifically mentioned they wouldn't kill him and would just re-cast, sure you can argue that was just a negotiating tactic but it happened. I feel that Disney is going to continue the Simpsons and if a voice actor dies or wants to cut down costs since they're expensive they'll just replace them. There will be outrage on the internet for sure but it'll be mostly by people who don't watch anyway and casuals will just accept it and once one VA change is accepted everyone is fair game until they don't see it profitable.

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Guess you didn’t read my first post. I watch every new season.

I said most not all, I also meant in general all over the internet not just here.

[ZariusTwo]

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

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Sumac

But, of course.

I wonder what kind of characters you would have in the comedy series if it was up to you?

Something tells me, that none, because, making fun of anyone would have been considered "racist, sexist, ableist, problematic, in a bad taste". This sure would have been a hit.

Thinking the saaaame thing.

Sometimes, I like to watch "Eddie Murphy: RAW" and wonder how the hell we fell so far so fast.

Like, HOW did we go from "Saying we have bigger lips isn't racist, it's true" to "You can't point out that people with accents have accents, that's offensive"?

Eddie, Richard Pryor, and Carlin would have never even been handed a mic in this day and age. F*cking shameful.

[Galactus]

This isn't going to be a popular sentiment here but the Simpsons brought this all on themselves.

Originally Posted by sdp

Basically an indian nobody ex-comedy central I believe made a documentary about why Apu was evil and SJW who come together over any issue for convenience sake because they're better than you decided Apu was now racist and a huge problem even though it really wasn't before.

Y'see that wasn't what Hari Kondabolu's documentary was about. That was what reactionary idiots jumped to the moment they heard about it but it's made clear that Apu is not a racist character and people are not bad for liking him.

It's main thing was interviewing Asian entertainers who have had their lives effected by Apu in someway.

The idea that there was problematic elements to Apu is not something that just came up now by rampant SJWs it's always been there. Even when the character was created there was some discussion among the writers about whether it was offensive. Ultimately they sided on that mostly okay it but the fact that it has to be discussed at all shows they knew it was iffy territory.

Frankly in this instance The Simpsons is a victim of its own success. Had Apu not proved popular and become one of the shows main characters and the Simpsons not become such a mammoth hit likely no one would care but it did and as such the shows characters and catchphrases become ubiquitous and did have an impact outside the show. I know this because because I saw it first hand. An Indian kid I went to school with was often teased with people imitating Apu as well as two Indian characters from a popular soap opera. There was no malice in it and it didn't seem to bother him but he told me once that after the millionth "thank you come again" it started to bother him.

Here's the thing though no one was calling for Apu to go (in fact Kondabolu's suggestion was to include more South Asian characters in addition to Apu) and no one was making it an issue of this until the current writers of the show randomly a year later decided to make it one.

The Simpsons handled it like pretty much every controversy

No they didn't. The way the Simpsons handled controversy (at least back when I used to watch it) was always with a detached coolness. Here The Simpsons got real pissy about it. Hank Azaria himself thought the way they handled it was poor and it should be said that he's been a class act about all of this.

If they wanted to address this they could have included other Indian characters voiced by actual Indian people. Is Sanjay still a side character? If so would anyone mind if he was voiced by an Indian VA? Maybe point out that Apu is more of a unique soul as opposed to a realistic portrayal of Indian Culture. Or they could have just ignored it because they're the ****ing Simpsons and have the clout to do that. Instead they got really thin skinned about this.

I can't help but think the shows writers in its golden age would have handled this a lot better. They knew going in that this was iffy territory but mitigated it by making Apu a such a well rounded character, you could argue he was one of the more progressive characters of the 90s. If they wanted to they could have deftly handled this better than the entitled fanboys which are today's current Simpsons writers.

This is a problem with nerd culture in general and why we have the various 'gates'. For years fanboys have whined that things like cartoons/comics/video games aren't treated like a legitimate art form but something treated as a legitimate art form is going to be subject to critical analysis and certain sections of nerd culture have proven far too immature to handle that and have such become easy prey to co-opted by people who don't give a crap about them or the things they are into to use in their political culture wars.

In an even broader context I keep hearing people particularly on the political right say we need open discussions and debates and subjects should not be off limits or punished for "wrong think" until of course it threatens their own security blanket opinions then that discussion has to be dismissed or shut down.

Originally Posted by Leo656

Except James Woods is an outspoken Conservative, and thus, not allowed to work anymore.

Like Chris Pratt, The Rock, Tim Allen, Arnold Schwarzenegger etc.

Unlike them James Woods believes in Qanon and harasses victims of school shootings. I don't know if that means he shouldn't work in Hollywood but we should definitely call him out for being a stupid ****.