What’s the problem with Apu?

Remember Apu, the kindly Indian shopkeeper from The Simpsons? Well, in the time since most people have stopped watching that 32-year-old show, past its prime for at least two of its three decades, the world has come around to deciding that he is actually a really racist character, perhaps even a 2D agent of white supremacy.

If you’ve missed this particular culture-war controversy, I envy you. It is among the most ridiculous, and protracted, of recent years. It started with The Problem With Apu, a 2017 documentary made by American comedian Hari Kondabolu. Kondabolu is of Indian heritage, and despite liking The Simpsons as a kid, he has come to think of Apu as a work of racist ‘brownface’, given the character was voiced by white guy Hank Azaria using a broad, stereotypical accent.

That this documentary, devoted to a successful man in his thirties airing his hurt feelings about a cartoon character, was ever even made is a depressing sign of our offence-obsessed times.