The few remaining viewers of The Simpsons are dismayed by the show's response to criticism of their portrayal of the Apu Nahasapeemapetilon character.
The latest episode of the long-running cartoon not so much deals with the controversy surrounding Apu, as it does acknowledge in a really weird way.
#TheSimpsons completely toothless response to @harikondabolu #TheProblemWithApu about the racist character Apu:
"Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect... What can you do?" pic.twitter.com/Bj7qE2FXWN— soham (@sohamberlamps) April 9, 2018
If the writers of the show thought that would suffice as a response, they were sorely mistaken. If anything, it has stoked the ire of its critics.
I was curious if The Simpsons was ever going to address this, and tonight they did ...
Lisa: "Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?"
~ Looks at photo of Apu with "Don't have a cow" written on it. ~— Shawn Headrick (@IronManRust) April 9, 2018
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Marge: "Some things will be dealt with at a later date."
Lisa: "If at all."
~ Both stare blankly at camera. ~— Shawn Headrick (@IronManRust) April 9, 2018
Most disappointingly of all, they used Lisa to send the message, the one character you would expect to be extremely conscious of such issues. The words didn't even sound right coming out of her mouth.
Et tu, Lisa?
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 9, 2018
And to have Lisa deliver the line... they are so unwilling to be in the wrong that they used the character who is least likely to say something like that.
— Miranda George (@MirandaGeorge) April 9, 2018
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They really betrayed the spirit of her character. Such a disappointment, they really had a chance to say the right thing and they blew it.
— Stephen McManus (@stephenjmcmanus) April 9, 2018
I think the fact that they put this "argument" in the mouth of Lisa's character, the character who usually champions the underdogs and is supposed to be the most thoughtful and liberal, is what makes this the most ridiculous (as in worthy of ridicule) and toothless response.
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
I never thought I'd see the day when we could say that Lisa and Marge Simpson had achieved Peak White Person status.
— GN Chevalier (@gnchevalier) April 9, 2018
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Much of the debate surrounding Apu and how it represents people of South Asian descent was started by comedian Hari Kondabolu, who starred in a documentary about the topic called The Problem With Apu and was released in November 2017. The stand-up comic reacted in much the way you would expect.
In “The Problem with Apu,” I used Apu & The Simpsons as an entry point into a larger conversation about the representation of marginalized groups & why this is important. The Simpsons response tonight is not a jab at me, but at what many of us consider progress.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 9, 2018
In an interview with the BBC last year, Kondabolu said Apu is "funny, but that doesn’t mean this representation is accurate or right or righteous. It gets to the insidiousness of racism, though, because you don’t even notice it when it’s right in front of you.”
The Simpsons is currently in its 29th season, maybe it's finally time to pack it in.
