‘A reclamation’: The Simpsons gives Apu a new voice as actor Sunil Malhotra replaces Hank Azaria
LifestyleThe Guardian

‘A reclamation’: The Simpsons gives Apu a new voice as actor Sunil Malhotra replaces Hank Azaria

The Simpsons has brought back Apu with a new voice actor, Indian-American Sunil Malhotra, ending eight years of silence for the character after a race controversy.

It’s been eight years since the character last spoke. ‘It truly IS his homecoming,’ Malhotra says

The Long Sip
What happened

The Simpsons gave Apu a new voice actor, Sunil Malhotra, who made his debut in the episode Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening on Sunday.

The detail

Apu had not spoken on the show for eight years after original voice actor Hank Azaria stepped down in 2020 following criticism over racial stereotyping.

And then

Malhotra, who moved to the US from India as a child, said taking on the role felt like a reclamation and truly Apu's homecoming.

Full story at The Guardian

What readers are saying

Gerza
The mention that showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos held collaborative meetings before the casting choice implies the production team is aiming for genuine structural change rather than a superficial fix.
Megaroo
Malhotra hesitated at first because his stomach sank when he heard it was for Apu. The collaborative meetings with Selman and Mazariegos before he accepted seem to have made the difference in how they plan to evolve the character and family going forward.
NannaDave
The producers used NDAs and withheld screeners for the Treehouse of Horror episode. That suggests they expected some strong reactions and wanted to control the rollout.
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