The Problem with Apu title graphic showing an Apu Simpsons character cutout with a child looking up at him.

The Problem With Apu

2017documentary / viral controversyclassic

Published October 2, 2026

The Problem With Apu is a 2017 documentary by comedian Hari Kondabolu that examines how the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon from The Simpsons shaped South Asian representation in American media. The film sparked a national debate about racial stereotyping, pulled a dismissive response from The Simpsons itself, and prompted viral Twitter threads from Desi Americans sharing their own family stories.

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Overview

The documentary runs through interviews with South Asian American performers including Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, Aasif Mandvi, Hasan Minhaj and Sakina Jaffrey, who describe being called "Apu" as kids and being asked to read lines in Apu's voice during auditions5. Whoopi Goldberg appears to compare the character's exaggerated accent to minstrelsy and other caricatures by white performers3. Kondabolu frames much of the film around his unsuccessful attempt to interview Hank Azaria, the white voice actor behind Apu, who had already declined to appear3.

The film earned a 77 on Metacritic and an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes2. Reviewers praised the construction of Kondabolu's argument but several complained that the Azaria chase ate screen time that could have gone to the Desi small-business owners whose lives mirror Apu's job3.

Origin & Background

Platform
TruTV (documentary) / Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Hari Kondabolu
Date
2017

Kondabolu, a self-described Simpsons fan, first went after the character publicly in a 2012 segment on W. Kamau Bell's FX show Totally Biased, where he called Apu "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my father"3. He pointed back to a 2007 Paltalk interview in which Azaria joked that producers originally asked him, "Can you do an Indian voice and how offensive can you make it?"4

TruTV green-lit the feature-length documentary in April 2016 and released the trailer on July 27, 20175. The Problem With Apu premiered on TruTV on November 19, 2017, and was covered by The New York Times, NBC and The AV Club in the following weeks5.

How It Spread

The louder reaction landed in April 2018, when The Simpsons answered on-air. In a bedtime-story scene, Lisa turns to the camera and says, "Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?" before the shot pans to a framed photo of Apu reading "Don't have a cow"1. Viewers, critics and Kondabolu himself called the response dismissive, and clips of the scene circulated for days on Twitter1.

The day after the episode aired, Twitter user Amar Shah (@amarshahism) posted a thread about growing up with a father who ran a convenience store, asking whether anyone in the Apu debate had actually spoken to people like his dad. The opening tweet pulled more than 3,900 retweets and 13,000 likes within two days3. Kondabolu quoted the thread the same night, writing, "We interviewed Desi small business owners & it was left on the cutting room floor due to time. This still haunts me"1.

Months later, in October 2018, a South Park episode piled on with its own jab at The Simpsons for its handling of the Apu issue, with clips posted to Twitter by journalist Matt Wilstein under the hashtag #cancelthesimpsons7. The documentary stayed a reference point for US media-criticism writing about representation in animation long after its original run6.

Timeline

2007

Hank Azaria describes creating Apu's voice in a Paltalk interview, joking that producers asked how offensive he could make it.

2012

Hari Kondabolu delivers a segment on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell calling Apu "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my father."

2016-04

TruTV green-lights Kondabolu's feature-length documentary about Apu.

2017-07-27

TruTV releases the trailer for The Problem With Apu.

2017-11-19

The Problem With Apu premieres on TruTV.

2018-04-08

The Simpsons airs a scene in which Lisa breaks the fourth wall over political correctness while a photo of Apu sits in frame.

2018-04-09

Amar Shah (@amarshahism) posts a viral thread about his convenience-store-owning father; Kondabolu quotes it with an apology about cutting Desi small-business owner interviews.

2018-10-11

South Park takes a shot at The Simpsons over the Apu controversy, clipped and shared widely on Twitter.

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