Being offended can only get one so far. Just look at the liberal media.
After many news outlets criticized The Simpsons for the character of Apu, for being an “Indian stereotype,” the show’s creator, Matt Groening, finally addressed the controversy. But not quite the way the left wanted him to.
Even as the New York Times calls the character of Apu is “the brown equivalent of blackface minstrel performances,” Groening has no plans to remove the figure from the show. He told USA Today in an interview, “I’m proud of what we do on the show. And I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended.”
Refreshing, especially compared to the recent performance of Hank Azaria, the white voice actor who plays Apu on Stephen Colbert’s show. Azaria said he would be more than willing to stop playing the character if only it would appease the politically correct deities in their rush to stifle creativity. But Groening understands his own creation in a way that Azaria does not: the Simpsons are meant to be stereotypes poking at the rest of the world. There’s an equal opportunity for everyone to be mocked.
Groening told USA Today, “We’ll let the show speak for itself.”
Slate’s Matthew Dessem wrote that the show’s biggest critic, Hari Kondabolu (who made an entire documentary about The Problem With Apu), deserved to be taken seriously by the makers of the Simpsons. He ended his brief piece with, “One of the best jokes from the show’s glory days depicted Groening as a reclusive crank with an eyepatch, a bolo tie, and a revolver. It would be a shame if, like so many of the show’s predictions, that one came true.”
