What can you do about Apu? The Simpsons used to know

Last year, comedian Hari Kondabolu released the documentary The Problem With Apu, in which he grapples with his lifelong love of The Simpsons—a show that was also the bane of his existence, along with so many other people of South Asian descent. In Kondabolu’s balanced, it-can-be-two-things critique, he examines how the Hank Azaria-voiced Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, long the sole prominent Indian character on television, gave his bullies ammo for years, while contributing to a broader cultural stereotyping that, somehow, we’re only recently overcoming. It’s a complex issue, Kondabolu’s love for something that’s so repeatedly hurt him. And it started an equally knotty conversation over what’s to be done about it. Last night, The Simpsons offered an answer: Yeah, well, whaddaya gonna do?
In “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” Marge discovers that her old childhood favorite book is actually a lot more racist than she remembers. So, in order to share it with Lisa, Marge attempts some editing: “It takes a lot of work to take the spirit and character out of a book, but now it’s as inoffensive as a Sunday in Cincinnati,” Marge proclaims, reading a revised version that is, indeed, so flat and conflict-free, Lisa immediately dismisses it as having no point. “Well, what am I supposed to do?” Marge asks. Lisa then turns to address the camera directly (always a bad sign).
“It’s hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?” Lisa asks. The camera then pans to a photo of Apu beside her bed, which Apu has signed, “Don’t have a cow, man!”
“Some things will be dealt with at a later date,” Marge says.
“If at all,” Lisa says. They both then stare blankly at the audience. Ha… ho?
Unsurprisingly, the shrug of a response didn’t go over well with Kondabolu: “Wow. ‘Politically Incorrect?’ That’s the takeaway from my movie & the discussion it sparked? Man, I really loved this show. This is sad,” he tweeted, before sharing others who have voiced their disappointment. “In ‘The Problem with Apu,’ I used Apu & The Simpsons as an entry point into a larger conversation about the representation of marginalized groups & why this is important,” he added. “The Simpsons response tonight is not a jab at me, but at what many of us consider progress.”