The Worst Simpsons Character

amusingly enough there's a recent Simpsons episode centering around Apu's nephew who in the end calls out Apu for being a tired and offensive stereotype, I was pretty surprised that they'd go there

dismissal vs disagreement

Ooh they begged him to join the Stereotypes bowling team, begged him.

haha yeah that's from what, season 7 or something?

The trailer pretty much lays it all out! I don't understand how anyone can watch the whole trailer and still have more to say about this!

have you ever uh been online before?

I hear that if a shark stops swimming it dies

i hear that all the sharks swimming in flooded houston freeways died when they stopped swimming

I tot see (now) why Apu is objectionable. I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way. "Funny accents" were everywhere in comedy, being done by white comedians.

Considering that the show got its start on The Tracy Ullman Show, I'm a little surprised there weren't more "funny accent" characters from the get-go.

there are things in the simpsons that stick out as dated now (teachers smoking in school, homer strangling bart, the gay panic in the john waters episode) but apu is ott, and stories like Vinnie's are sobering, there's no getting around it. i'm not sure there's anything else in the show that is as offensive and dated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlRV6yxZUSQ

Well, the other Asian characters might qualify (eg akira(?) the Japanese waiter), certainly in terms of performance

not denying the show used plenty of stereotypes. this was the 90s, this was pre-internet. Apu was very bad, they should not have done that. it really sucks that this show contributed to the bullying of specific people by someone in a more powerful position. from what it sounds like, the voice actor purposefully used a stereotype because he thought it was funny. somewhere else i have read it wasn't that, and that the writers wrote him that way. i am not sure what the story is tbh. does the documentary clear this up? i know Azaria refused to be in it...

I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way

didn't Harvard/National Lampoon played w a lot of ironic hate comedy?

https://imgur.com/gallery/H1X8R

https://longreads.com/2017/12/29/the-other-people-in-springfield

That's a really shitty way to respond.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/arts/television/the-simpsons-responds-to-criticism-about-apu.html

it's pretty obvious stuff but I loved Paper's takedown of this

http://www.papermag.com/the-simpsons-apu-2558301508.html

RIP The Simpsons

cancel the simpsons

some discussion here LONG DUK DONG

https://www.wpr.org/simpsons-problem-apu-drop-dead

The youtube regurgitation engine recently brought this to my attention and it made me a bit sad

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8M2tg2RkIQ

I want the Lisa who rightfully recoiled from the sexist nonsense spouted by Talking Malibu Stacy to come forward in time and talk some sense into this Lisa.

fuck the Simpsons. worst possible response

They had an episode a few years ago where Utkarsh Ambudkar played Apu's hip nephew Pujya who criticized Apu for being a cliche. Then the nephew never returned and Apu remained the same.

I mean, Azaria himself said he was instructed to make Apu's accent "as offensive as possible" when he got the part. I'd almost respect The Simpsons more if they just said some version of "fuck yeah, we're out to offend people".

still not sure where this matt groening went given that he apparently had helped in the writing of this latest

doing deep Simpsons research and noticing a LOT of notes from MG about removing racist/ableist/homophobic jokes pic.twitter.com/JJBl2cCjPy

— Wow, Bob Mackey! (@bobservo) July 27, 2016

good job getting anyone to gaf about a new simpsons episode tho

update pic.twitter.com/wB0CMLvogl

— MGK Hockey 1234 (@mightygodking) April 10, 2018

Lisa is the milkshake duck Simpsons character

i don't like her saying it was "inoffensive". she does not get to decide what is offensive or not. it is a misuse of power. the show is now a bully.