A dozen episodes based on a fringe character in a show with a million ffringecharacters is pretty good.. Especially, as stated above, most of his episodes were rooted in the golden years.

You weren’t asking me, but I’m also Mexican-American and I’m not offended by Bumblebee Man; he’s based on a real character and isn’t just a stereotype. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/chespirito-comedian-dies-simpsons-mexico-bumblebee-man 

Is Apu being a price-gouger an Indian stereotype though? I thought it was more of a joke at the expense of 7/11's ridiculous prices as an organization rather than Apu in particular.

A stereotype is a form of cultural shorthand that is basically used as a shortcut for the audience to understand a character. The early Mr. Burns was rude, cruel, and patronizing because the writers wanted to quickly communicate he was a bad guy, and it wasn’t until we’d gotten several seasons in that he’d become the…

Can you please explain Indian television shows to me? Because whenever I’m buying curry and kind of half watch it, it honestly gives me a worse impression of your culture than someone like Apu does. Not in a hateful way or like making you guys look stupid or sterotypical but more in a “was this made by actual human…

Full disclosure, I’ve watched maybe 10 post-season 10 episodes total, so I’m not sure what Apu has been up to since 1999 or so. But given that the defining characteristic of many Simpsons characters are their jobs (Kent Brockman is a media personality, Hibbert is a doctor, the Sea Captain is a nautical guy) Apu has…

Obviously a Decepticon...

Not only is Apu good at his job, but he is so good that it takes on almost mythical superhuman levels of competency at his chosen profession. I always think back to James Woods guest appearance and how he spoke of how Apu was essentially a god when it came to working at the kwik e mart

His marriage and his kids have been a major part of his character ever since they came into the picture. There have been plenty of Simpsons plotlines that only mattered in the episode where they happened, but his family has appeared many times.

“Apu isn’t a character that would come out of, let alone thrive in, the medium as it currently stands”

Accent aside, Apu is one of the most human well rounded characters on the Simpsons.

While I understand this guy’s frustrations, Apu is a much better represented character than, say, Groundskeeper Willie, which is a “representation” of my culture and heritage. As a man of Scottish-Irish heritage, I’m often playing a devil’s advocate role in these discussions...like, for example, Lucky the Leprechaun…

I said this in another thread, but I live near where they did Simpsons (Klasky Csupo), and the convenience store across the street WAS run by an Indian family...so it might be more based in reality than stereotype...just what they saw every single day when they got their cokes and twinkies and stuff. I’ll vouch that…

I understand the accent is stereotypical and shitty, but if a voice actor absolutely has to share the ethnic and national background of a character she or he voices, John DiMaggio should be run out of town on a pole. Also, I suspect that Billy West is not actually a candy-coated chocolate. 

Everything I mentioned was in an episode that aired during Seasons 1-9, which is technically within the first 31% of the show’s episodes. Also, at the beginning literally other character was a stereotype too—Burns was a generic rich guy, Smithers a generic toady, Skinner a generic authority figure, etc.—so it’s not…

Sigh. I’m Indian-American, and I’ve always struggled a bit with Kondabolu. I understand his rage, and share it a lot of the time, but I can’t help but feel like a lot of his schtick boils down to “White people, am I right??”

Not to mention he’s the only person in Springfield who’s actually good at their job. Well him and Cookie Kwan. As a Mexican-American, I’m all for representation... But I’m not sure this is the hill you want to die on. Not to mention, if your biggest problem is representation in pop culture; I’d be pretty thankful for…

“little thought has been given to the Apu character beyond the accent, that Apu is his ethnicity (and a blatantly distorted one at that) and that’s it.”

Sometimes the shower doesn’t feel hot enough.

Yeah, there's no other reason to ever go to Iceland.