The Simpsons was somewhat slow to embrace the trend of animated shows that moved away from having white actors with the voices of non-white characters, to the point where the show actively pushed against change initially, but – to his credit – the actor of Hank Azaria’s voice was faster than some of his Simpson fellow to admit that he was doing something wrong and offensive by expressing Apu (as pointed out in Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The problem with Apu). Azaria decided not to express Apu anymore long before the official policy became public at Simpson HQ and has been open since then about the fact that he wants to be held accountable for the harm he caused by playing the character.
Recently, during an appearance at Dax Shepard and Monica Padman Armchair expert podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter) Azaria said she continues to explore the negative impact that Apu had on the perception of Indians in the United States and that she met Indian-American children who had never seen an episode of The Simpsons but I still know about Apu. “It’s practically an insult right now,” he says, adding that a 17-year-old in particular asked him in tears to remind writers that “what they do matters and has ramifications in people’s lives.”
Azaria seems to recognize the central role it played in spreading the racist stereotypes of which Apu was a part and it sounds like you’re out of the way to at least apologize for that and listen to people’s concerns about life now. “Some of me feel like I have to go to every Indian in this country and personally apologize,” he said on the podcast. “And sometimes I do.” In the meantime, move on The Simpsons, Apu was never reformed (unlike some of the black characters that were once voiced by white men, such as Kevin Michael Richardson in place of Harry Shearer as Dr. Hibbert).