Apu returns to The Simpsons with a South Asian voice replacing Hank Azaria nine years after racism backlash

Apu, the Kwik-E-Mart clerk exiled from The Simpsons in 2018 after backlash over racial stereotypes, has returns to the popular sitcom.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is back on The Simspons. The Sunday special episode of the world's longest-running sitcom surprised viewers with a major resurrection: Apu, the beloved Kwik-E-Mart operator who had not been heard for the better part of a decade, spoke once again in Springfield.

Apu is back on The Simpsons years after racism row.

Apu returns to The Simpsons

The Halloween-themed Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons have been known to bring characters back from the dead. This time, it did so figuratively. Apu and his wife Manjula are back on the show, but with new voices. Indian American actors Sunil Malhotra and Janina Gavankar voice the couple now.

“Bringing Apu back feels like a reclamation. It truly IS his homecoming,” the two actors said on Sunday in a joint Instagram post. Apu had been voiced by voice-over artist and comedian Hank Azaria for over two decades prior to being exiled from the screen around 2018.

The row over Apu

Apu was introduced in The Simpsons in 1990 as an Indian convenience store clerk. His family was introduced in the subsequent seasons. Over the years, he became a staple of the show, and a beloved pop culture figure. However, many critics pointed out that Apu was a painful stereotype for some South Asian Americans. In The Problem With Apu, a 2017 documentary, comedian Hari Kondabolu interviewed a slew of celebrities of South Asian origin, including Kal Penn, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Hasan Minhaj, about growing up with the character. They shared memories of being bullied and called “Apu” as an insult. Hank Azaria himself admitted that the portrayal was a caricature.

The actor stepped away from the role after the documentart, continuing to voice other characters on the show. After this, Apu was largely only seen on the Simpsons, and even those sporadic appearances diminished in the tears since. In 2020, in response to racial reckoning demonstrations, The Simpsons announced it would no longer cast white voice actors as characters of color. The show then recast two Black characters, Carl Carlson and Dr. Julius Hibbert, with Black actors.

Hari Kondabolu has hailed Apu's return, saying he never wanted the character to be cancelled. “I’m also still proud of the public conversation about race and representation my documentary started. Finally, I’m hoping this stops all the hatemail in many languages that has been sent my way over the past decade,” he told The Associated Press in an emailed statement.