No, I agree that racists would have used the only Indian cartoon character on television to make fun of Indians regardless of the details of the character.

Out of curiosity, Were you always offended by Apu, or did Kondabolu’s doc just recently change how you feel?

This is slowly becoming the same shitty response so many “family” groups, religious organizations, etc have to controversial shit:

I mean... where do we draw the line at things like revoking formal recognition for someone who’s been accused, but not convicted, of a crime? I realize that Temple University isn’t part of the justice system and doesn’t have any obligation to wait on a formal verdict the way the government does. Random Internet Bozos™…

“male gaze”

I have such a limited tolerance for Paul Scheer, but I love Amy Nicholson, so I’ll listen to as much of this as I can.

Indians are among the most successful ethnic groups in American history. At what point is Apu going to be treated the same as Willie, Uter, Fat Tony, Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel? Do you really think Indian Americans are on average more oppressed than Appalachian Americans? The data clearly says “no.” If the Simpsons…

To be fair, everyone at Cochella looks like an asshole.

On the other hand, “Disgraced Hot Sauce Huckster” has a nice ring to it.

So is life.

This is true. They should have never addressed this issue as such, as an earlier recent episode sort of already did. If anything, Al Jean and co are giving Hari Kondabolu what he always wanted: A career as a professional reactionary. But I guess it is easier than being a substantially talented comedian, plus, he gets…

Aww, did the cartoon man on the screen make you feel bad about yourself? Poor thing, bullied by a fucking cartoon. Grow up, stupid.

Yes, it is. People need to get over their dumb butthurt feelings. No one promised you that life would never leave you feeling offended.

Maybe people are just sick of hyper-sensitive bullshit

Because there isn’t a problem with Apu.

Wouldn’t that just piss off Hari Kondabolu?

I think the myth of the uniform white experience is one of the most ridiculous of our time. I get that people of lighter skin are better off, but how is my cushy life in the middle class anything like my dad’s life growing up in the slums in Philadelphia or his grandfather’s life coming here from Italy. I don’t doubt,…

Hank Azaria is a sappahrdic jew whose parents are Greek immigrants. Is he still white?

I mean, enough has been said on both sides that I won’t re-iterate anything here, but at this point, who really cares? He said his bit, Simpsons said theirs, it remains a middling cartoon far past the point of being socially relevant anyway. Fans will always have the classic Apu episodes, socially conscious critics…

“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.”