Alright, two parts to this post. I finally worked out how to do the mod tags! (It isn’t hard, I just haven’t tried before)
! | The_Walrus wrote: |
Please remember to engage constructively with each other. Don’t prod each other to bait a reaction, don’t paint with a broad brush, the usual stuff that I shouldn’t really have to say. |
Alright, now for the regular user part. First it’s slightly weird that this is coming up now, and in PPR rather than TV, but whatever.
Secondly this isn’t down to “the woke crowd” or “the left” or whatever convenient boogeyman you want to throw tomatoes at. It isn’t a case of wh***y patronising the brown guy. Criticism of Azaria’s performance has come primarily from Indian-Americans (and people who could be mistaken for Indian-Americans). It first received attention when an Indian-American stand-up comic made a documentary called
The Problem With Apu in 2017, in which he interviewed a number of Indian-American celebrities about their feelings towards Apu. Many reported being bullied as a child because of Apu. Honestly, that resonates with me. I have seen the same thing. Some also reported being asked to do Apu impressions at auditions.
Now, OK, maybe you don’t think children being bullied and actors being asked to do impressions is a good reason for a TV show to recast characters. But let’s call this what it is. People saw themselves being stereotyped and they didn’t like it.
There is a separate movement to have all cartoon characters voiced by people with the same ethnic background. To me this is less compelling and has some serious flaws, but it’s also not something I care about, at all.