Hank Azaria stepped down as The Simpsons character Apu in 2020 (Picture: AP/Disney+)
Hank Azaria has admitted he was reluctant to step down from playing Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in The Simpsons because he didn’t want to ‘cave’ to the ‘woke mob’.
The Idol star, 59, voiced the Kwik-E-Mart clerk from the cartoon’s very first episode in 1989 before officially dropping the character in 2020 after accusations that Apu fuelled negative stereotypes.
Actress Priyanka Chopra Jones even called Apu ‘the bane of my life’ because of his exaggerated Indian accent.
Hank previously admitted having a ‘blind spot’ over Apu, however, he was initially torn over walking away from a character he’d played for over 30 years over the criticism.
‘On the one hand, I didn’t want to cave to so-called “PC pressure” or “the woke mob” – whatever you want to call it,’ he told The Independent.
‘On the other hand, I didn’t want to continue to engage in a harmful practice if that’s what I was doing.’
Hank voiced Apu since the beginning of The Simpsons (Picture: Fox)
While deciding what his future with Apu should be, Hank discovered a news story about the assault of Middle Eastern shop clerk. The attackers taunted the clerk by calling him ‘Apu’ while they beat him up.
In a chat with NPR this year, Hank sad that was just one of the key moments which confirmed to him he had to walk away.
Now though, Hank refuses to play any character of colour in Springfield including Homer’s drinking buddy Carl Carlson Black police sergeant Lou, both voiced by Alex Désert.
Hank also stepped down as Carl Carlson too and was replaced by Alex Désert (Picture: Fox)
‘There was no public outcry over them. And they weren’t considered stereotypical or harmful in any way,’ he continued.
‘But I realised if nothing else, why am I taking the job away from an actor of colour with so much less opportunity than I have?’
Confirming he would no longer be voicing Apu back in 2020, at the time he told SlashFilm: ‘All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore, unless there’s some way to transition it or something.
‘What they’re going to do with the character is their call. It’s up to them and they haven’t sorted it out yet. All we’ve agreed on is I won’t do the voice anymore.’
‘We all made the decision together. We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.’
The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney+ in the UK.
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Hank stepped down from playing Apu in 2020.