Apu To Be Dropped From The Simpsons

[Wildcat]

That sounds like they plan on doing something new with Apu but he can’t talk about it yet.

Still being offended by him is dumb. There’s other stereotypes on the show and besides it’s all in good fun.

The documentary was actually reasonable though. The guy wasn’t hating or anything. Some are just reading way too much into Apu.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, kind of looking like Apu might not go away at all. Just getting a new, presumably Indian voice actor.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/simpson...anging-voices/

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Yeah, kind of looking like Apu might not go away at all. Just getting a new, presumably Indian voice actor.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/simpson...anging-voices/

Five months between posts, so have they done anything yet or not?

[sdp]

lame, but they will do the same with the main simpsons cast eventually, Disney just got Simpsons, they aren't going to let go of one of the biggest properties that Fox owned. Simpsons died int he 90s, it's been a shadow of its former self ever since, there's still good episodes from time to time but they're just parodies of themselves at this point, the ship had already sailed for them to have an "ending" a long time ago that would give closure to the series.

Simpsons will be like those endless animes that have thousands of episodes. I guess we can still get excited about a new movie perhaps? New video games? Even if they'll be sanitized by Disney?

[Wildcat]

I knew they would not get rid of him. I think replacing voice actors just because they do not match the race of the characters is pretty dumb though.

Id say its more offensive to think characters should only be voiced by same race people. All characters should be available to voice actors.

Interested to see what happens to Cleveland on Family Guy. His voice could be imitated by someone else I guess but still pointless.

[Coola Yagami]

Not sure how a 'final episode' would even go. I just think whenever the series ends the last episode will feel more like a 'season finale' than a 'final episode of the overall series'. I mean they crossed the path to properly end it long ago. I think it'll be a case where it just ends and the voice actors and animators are surprised to find out that they're not coming back next season.

As for Disney, have the Simpsons been more sanitized since new episode came out? Like, is Homer still drinking and are Marge's sisters still smoking?

[Wildcat]

There was an episode where Patty and Selma stopped smoking and one struggled to quit. I think it was before Disney acquired it.

I seem to remember theyre still shown smoking on brief occasions though. Like for a quick joke. Unless Im thinking of something else.

Theres still drinking. Moes Tavern is still a primary location and character. Duffman still appears too.

Im a little surprised Family Guy would change anything. I mean its obvious theyre not afraid of criticism. Cleveland even had his own show. I know Seth MacFarlane stepped away as head or something but he still does voices. He mentioned he pretty much stopped leading things a long time ago.

[Zulithe]

If some of these voice actors on a personal level don't want to voice characters such as Apu or Cleveland anymore, it's understandable. But sending the message that people should only voice act as characters that match their ethnicity is a dark, dark path with a lot of implications. What happens when you have a minority voice actor and there aren't enough roles that fit what's acceptable for them to portray? That is totally the endgame of this line of thinking, and they should consider that carefully.

Oh, and let's just end The Simpsons already. I adore it but time to move on to some fresh and more relevant ideas.

[sdp]

Mixed opinions about VAs only being able to voice their race, I don't mind it much but I don't want to have VAs replaced it usually sucks, it also means we wouldn't have had James Avery as Shredder but I do like knowning future Shredders would be Japanese. I remember being disappointed that Katara's VA was white, but I don't want her replaced if her character appeared in a special or whatever.

Also it's never enough for people, now they want Apu to have a different profession, changing the VA is not enough.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

As for Disney, have the Simpsons been more sanitized since new episode came out? Like, is Homer still drinking and are Marge's sisters still smoking?

they scrubbed from the internet the video they made with Lisa regarding the controversy, the Michael Jackson episode isn't on Disney +, I'm guessing they'll steer clear from controversial topics all around which is ironic counting the simpsons were meant to be controversial. I'm sure drinking beer won't be toned down but that's not controversial (though apparently disney is no longer licensing Duff beer stuff for shirts)

HBO Max also doesn't have some controversial South Park episodes, Ironic really.

[Sumac]

VA voicing only characters of their race is such an idiotic and retarded idea.
What next? Characters being played only by actors who had similar experience to them?
What part of being an "actor" those stupid milkshake and tendies filled leftards don't understand?

[Coola Yagami]

I can't wait for the day some company makes a game. show, cartoon or movie or whatever, that isn't owned by a major company that says 'this is how we're gonna make it and if you don't like it, tough tits', and stand by what they say.

Like don't add purposely offensive stuff, but the regular good ol' stuff that people should NOT get offended like tits, swearing and stereotypes. Have their mantra be something like 'if our latest episode doesn't piss off Twitter. we're doing it wrong'. And when outrage comes their way, the phrase 'idk, maybe we should listen to them' would be a fireable offense.

They can have all of my money. **** they can have my stimulus check. Just make it happen.

Just be super extra careful and screen all employees to make sure no one has any potential cancel culture/metoo skeletons, and make it happen.

[Andrew NDB]

Yeah, I will always fight against nonsense like this.

It's in the name. Voice actor. You know, as in pretending to be someone you aren't. And this isn't like "Cleopatra" or something... it's people sitting in a chair getting their voice recorded, for ****'s sake.

[Leo656]

If we start making it a hard rule that only women can voice women and only men can voice men, then a lot of voice actors are f*cked.

Seriously, I literally just saw Tara Strong voice Young Clark Kent in "Red Son". If we can only have black people voicing black people, Indian people voicing Indian people, why do we have to stop there? How about only kids can voice kids? There's a bunch of reasons why they generally don't do that, from union rules to legal problems.

It's f*cking playing pretend. Jesus Christ, this is intolerable. Everything is racist, everything is assault, everything is offensive, and everyone is terrible. All because a very VERY vocal few - not even a "minority", like a small handful of people who if you went all over the world and rounded them all up they could maybe all fit in a single Denny's - have their goddamn skin on inside out.

Stupid. F*cking stupid.

[Galactus]

The Simpsons is already sanitised. Despite its drop in quality it's still essentially the same show that it was in the 90s except the world has changed around it and what was considered edgy and subversive back then seems completely normal now.

As for Apu...well the is racist. Whether it's egregiously so to the point that it needs correcting is up for debate but the whole joke is haha it's funny because he's Indian. Even the writers who came up with the character knew they were delving into iffy territory but felt it was worth the laugh and then spent the next few years trying to mitigate it by giving the character genuine depth.

I've made this point before but the show's handling of what amounts to mild criticism of the character has been extremely poor. I've not watched the show for years but did see the episode that one of Apu's Young relatives visits him (played by a real life Indian comedian) and against his wishes the ending of the episode was rewritten with the moral being that Apu's mock Indian traits are more authentic than the character played by an actual Indian. Dumb. Then there's the clap back to the Problem with Apu documentary. Talk of that movie had long since faded, why they felt the need to drag it up again I have no idea. If anything their poor response reignited the debate even more than before. In a way they brought this on themselves.

No one is saying that all VAs have to match the race/ethnicity or even gender of the character they are portraying but they made this an issue when it didn't need to be. Maybe to some it will make the character less funny but if the writing is good he'll still be funny. Of course there's the rub the show hasn't been funny in years.

[AquaParade]

I think this voice acting shakeup will pass like a trend. I'm not saying real change won't happen, but this one is unnecessary and comes across as a virtue signal or overreaction.

Voice acting jobs will slowly go back to A. Whoever is best for the job and B. Whoever actually takes the audition.

A lot of the time (not all) these job discrepancies come down to more than the people hiring just being prejudice. But if that isn't the case, I suppose the current trend will help. Either way, we'll be fine.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

I think this voice acting shakeup will pass like a trend. I'm not saying real change won't happen, but this one is unnecessary and comes across as a virtue signal or overreaction.

Voice acting jobs will slowly go back to A. Whoever is best for the job and B. Whoever actually takes the audition.

A lot of the time (not all) these job discrepancies come down to more than the people hiring just being prejudice. But if that isn't the case, I suppose the current trend will help. Either way, we'll be fine.

The only problem is that sometimes companies would rather waste the extra time trying to find 'best one for the job as long as they're -blank-' rather than 'best one for the job, period' just to appease these people. It's like say.... Domino from Deadpool 2, don't tell me they were casting women in general for the role as long as they could act the part, naw they had their minds made up on casting a black woman for the role and were probably only auditioning black women.

I wouldn't call Apu racist... he's a stereotype, and stereotypes are based on facts but exaggerated for comedic purposes. The Simpsons go over the top of course, but there are some people out there that act like -insert Simpsons character here-. In Apu's case, I used to live in an area where nearly everyone that worked in a Circle K, AM/PM or a 7-11 talked just like he did, unironically. I mean, yeah I've been in some where the owners were not of Indian descent, but I've been in enough to know where the stereotype came from. Like, what do you do there? Plan a masswide firing of all Indians working in these kinds of stores so that the ones that don't work there don't feel offended?

Like what's next? Fire all Hispanic housemaids so that the Hispanics that have never worked at that kind of job don't feel stereotyped and offended? Ban all rap music so that the black people that don't listen to rap don't feel stereotyped and offended? Ban all Starbucks so the white folks that have never set foot in one won't feel stereotyped and offended? Like where does it end?

[Wildcat]

I agree the voice acting thing will calm down. I did not mean to imply it would blow up. Simpsons, and now Family Guy are the only ones doing it right?

I also agree The Simpsons are still the same. Not sanitized but its remained consistent in tone and humor all this time. I keep saying this. Not just here.

I honestly and genuinely still enjoy the modern seasons. Imo the humor is fun, storylines are well thought out (for running so long). Plus the art/animation is quite vibrant and clean. I know its HD but still noticeably improved.

I think people glorify the old seasons because it was new then and they grew up with it hitting its peak. They probably stopped watching when they lost interest.

[JonesyKitty]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

I agree the voice acting thing will calm down. I did not mean to imply it would blow up. Simpsons, and now Family Guy are the only ones doing it right?
.

Dreamworks did this a few years back. When they bought out VeggieTales they completely cut the character and voice actor of Mr.Nezzer. Apparently Dreamworks either has or had a rule about voice actors not being allowed to do impressions of different races.
Basically the character was cut because he was voiced by a white guy doing an impression of Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oogie Boogie is of course played by Ken Page. It wasn't even that he was trying to do a black voice, but he was a white guy doing an impression of a character played by a black man and that didn't fly with Dreamworks.

So you fired an actor and cut a cartoon pickle because when they came up with his voice they decided to make it sound like a cartoon sack of bugs. Neither character are considered any particular race as far as I am aware. I always just assumed it was the same person doing the voice for both characters until I read about it. It's like the guy who plays King Candy from Wreck it Ralph just doing an impression of the guy who played the Mad Hatter. He's just doing an impression of another character.

Does it make it wrong for me to do an Oogie Boogie voice when my kid wants to pretend he is Jack? Or when I do Jaleal White Sonic while reading the Archie comics to him at night?

Question regarding Family Guy though. Are
There other black characters that were played by white actors being cut? I don't honestly know a whole lot about the cast aside from a few main characters. Were Cleveland's family played by white actors?

[Sumac]

I hope SJWism dies as quickly as possible.
This **** damages culture and media so much, like bunch of worthless angry locusts, devouring everything in its path.

[CyberCubed]

There aren't many black main characters in Simpsons. Just Dr. Hibert, Carl, and uh....who else? The Mike Tyson parody character who doesn't show up anymore?