On Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” Marge and Lisa Simpson indirectly addressed the renewed Apu controversy that was recently discussed by Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem with Apu. Despite actor Hank Azaria’s unwillingness to speak on camera with the comedian about the show’s problematic Kwik-E-Mart sales clerk, he subsequently claimed The Simpsons would “definitely” address the matter at a future date. Said date came three months later during Sunday’s episode, but judging by the reactions of Kondabolu and others, it wasn’t what fans and critics were hoping for.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the scene in question concerned Marge’s reading an edited version of the book The Princess in the Garden to Lisa before bedtime. The children’s book has been culled to make it “acceptable and inoffensive in 2018,” but this results in a story that “is much shorter and lacking in an ’emotional journey’ for the central character.” That’s when, by why of a framed photograph of Apu on Lisa’s bedside table, The Simpsons turns its attention to the issues raised by Kondabolu and other critics.
MARGE: Well what am I supposed to to?
LISA: It’s hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive, is now politically incorrect. What can you do?
MARGE: Some things will be dealt with at a later date.
LISA: If at all.
Judging by Kondabolu’s response to the scene on Twitter, he wasn’t expecting the show he told us he was still a fan of to brush off The Problem with Apu‘s concerns as “politically incorrect” and something to “be dealt with at a later date,” if at all. “That’s the takeaway from my movie & the discussion it sparked?” he wrote. “Man, I really loved this show. This is sad.”
Wow. “Politically Incorrect?” That’s the takeaway from my movie & the discussion it sparked? Man, I really loved this show. This is sad. https://t.co/lYFH5LguEJ
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 9, 2018
In “The Problem with Apu,” I used Apu & The Simpsons as an entry point into a larger conversation about the representation of marginalized groups & why this is important. The Simpsons response tonight is not a jab at me, but at what many of us consider progress.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) April 9, 2018
Fellow comic and Politically Re-Active co-host W. Kamau Bell chimed in as well, calling the show’s method for addressing the controversy “the most ridiculous (as in worthy of ridicule) and toothless response.”
My friend @harikondabolu made a beautiful & powerful film. It took guts to do it. He knew he was going after a sacred cow. (Pun intended.) He knew many people would just watch the trailer or see the poster or just hear the title & immediately just hate on it & him.
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
I always tell the #UnitedShades crew that comedy can fix any creative issues. That's what comedy's for. It can't fix real world issues. But it can get you out of a creative jam. The Simpson's, 1 OF THE GREATEST COMEDIES OF ALL TIME, coulda dug deep & wrote their way out of this.
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
The "argument" the episode makes is basically things used to better before political correctness when nobody cared about all these groups. It ignores the facts that ALL THESE GROUPS ALWAYS CARED ABOUT ALL THESE GROUPS. But these groups' complaints weren't respected/supported.
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
I'm sure South Asian parents who took their kids to see "Annie" in 1982 had to explain to their kids why Punjab, an already problematic "magical" servant, was played by Geoffrey Holder, a Trinidadian-American. Something to the effect of, "We aren't cast in many movies in the US."
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
It's even more noteworthy because this is the era that on 1 hand created President Trump & on the other (Black) hand created Black Panther. Art always takes a side. Usually it's regressive vs. progressive. It's up to the artists to choose a side. & it's up to the ppl to buy it.
— W. Kamau Bell (@wkamaubell) April 9, 2018
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
