Comedian Hari Kondabolu's truTV documentary The Problem with Apu set out to explore the impact of casual racism in The Simpsons in the form a racist, broadly offensive stereotype that has plagued South Asians for decades: Apu, the show's Indian convenience store owner.
The film got a lot of people talking, which was great, though I'm guessing that most of Hari's fans were aware of said problem with Apu. If you watched The Problem with Apu and it was all totally mind-blowing news to you, congratulations; you were part of the film's target audience.
But here's the big question: have the folks at The Simpsons seen The Problem with Apu? And how about Hank Azaria, the white actor who provides the super-stereotypical voice Apu? (Or, as Hari puts it, "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my father.") One of plot points of the documentary concerns Hari's attempts to interview Azaria and talk about the character on camera. It doesn't happen.
However, it seems that Azaria has indeed seen the film. Speaking to a reporter from TMZ, who asked for this thoughts on the documentary, Azaria said that Kondabolu "made some really interesting points" and "gave us a lot at The Simpsons to think about, and we are really thinking about it."
