Apu Is Reportedly Getting Cut From ‘The Simpsons’ Following Racist Controversy

There’s been a ton of controversy over the last few years surrounding ‘The Simpsons’ character Apu and what many believe is a stereotypical and racist depiction of Indian-Americans.

This past April,Indian-American producer Adi Shankar put out a call to find script that “in a clever way subverts [Apu], pivots him, writes him out, or evolves him in a way that takes a creation that was the byproduct of a predominately Harvard-educated white male writers’ room and transforms it into a fresh, funny and realistic portrayal of Indians in America.”

Despite his project, it appears as though The Simpsons writers have decided to do away with Apu altogether.

“They aren’t going to make a big deal out of it, or anything like that, but they’ll drop him altogether just to avoid the controversy,” Shankar told IndieWire. Shankar received the news from two people who work for the show, and a third source who works with creator Matt Groening.

IndieWire reached out to Fox for further comment, to which a Simpsons representative said, “Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode ‘My Way or the Highway to Heaven.’”

However, in that episode, Apu is only featured in a single shot with a number of other characters, who are all huddled around God.

Do you think ‘The Simpsons’ should elevate Apu’s storyline beyond ‘convenience store owner’ and make him a better representation of Indian-Americans or should they cut him out and maybe start fresh with someone new?

[via Complex]