‘DIDN’T FEEL RIGHT’

Apu Voice Actor Hank Azaria: I Quit After Educating Myself About Racism

Hank Azaria said he could no longer play Apu after he studied racism and representation.

Hank Azaria—the Simpsons star behind the voices of Moe, Chief Wiggum, and Professor Frink—has explained his decision to stop playing the character of Apu, saying it no longer felt right to play the Indian Kwik-E-Mart owner after he educated himself about racism. Azaria, who is white, told The New York Times he originally felt defensive when people started to criticize Apu as racist, most notably in comedian Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu. However, when he examined his feelings about it, he changed his mind. Azaria said: “Once I realized that that was the way this character was thought of, I just didn’t want to participate in it anymore... It just didn’t feel right.” Azaria said he read articles and essays about representation, and he attended seminars about racism, which made him think about his own background. He said: “I started thinking, if that character were the only representation of Jewish people in American culture for 20 years, which was the case with Apu, I might not love that.”