If Azaria Sincerely Wants To Apologize, He Should Do It In Dollars
There's a Hollywood Reporter piece by Ryan Parker, about the Indian character actor Hank Azaria used to voice on The Simpsons:
'Simpsons' Actor Hank Azaria Feels He Needs Apologize to Every Indian for ApuHank Azaria was a recent guest on the Armchair Expert podcast, where he discussed several topics, including the lessons he learned from playing the controversial Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on The Simpsons.
The long-running Indian character on the iconic Fox cartoon came under fire in recent years (including in 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu) due to the character's racially stereotypical behavior, compounded by the fact that he was voiced by a Caucasian actor.
Azaria told podcast hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman that he took time to learn more about what people were feeling -- taking several seminars -- and to understand why the character is problematic before stepping away from the role.
...Azaria added that he is now a big proponent of people of color voicing characters of color and diversification of writers rooms.
I wrote in "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck" that a meaningful apology is a "costly apology" -- "following up an apology with a sincere offer to make good, financially or in some other substantial way."
Azaria's apology, at the moment, is no more than blah, blah, blah. (Talk, as they say, is el cheapo.)
And the whole virtue-signaling, public flailing -- donnez-moi une break, as we say.
Ridiculous. American actors do French accents, Russian, play Brits and vice versa. It's called acting! Brit Freddie Hightower does great American accent as doc w/autism. No idea he was Brit till I heard him in a PSA. Azeria is virtue signaling. Is he donating the $ he made?! https://t.co/48DXCd1PKx
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) April 13, 2021
Oh, and by the way -- I'm with him on PC:
I'm Indian & I laughed along. This political correctness will destroy comedy. Does no one have a sense of humour anymore? This cancel culture is a disease.
— Nick (@nekzaad) April 13, 2021
Public apology tours by the rich or famous should be accompanied by a potlatch-style divestment that brings their personal net worth to zero, which could be interpreted as a voluntary reparations. That way we'll know they are serious.
Otherwise, it's just words. And as we all know, these kinds of words are just cheap virtue signaling.
ruralcounsel at April 14, 2021 3:41 AM
Affirming that microaggressions deserve financial compensation may not be the champion's move with so many dim & impressionable people surrounding us.
Crid at April 14, 2021 5:34 AM
I doubt Azaria wants to apologize. I suspect what he wants is to do is to continue working in Hollywood.
Hollywood is a company town taken over by Social Justice Warriors. Like living in a communist country or pre- Protestant Reformation Europe, one placated the dogma in charge with outlandish shows of conformity and humility. One wore the hair shirt or self-flagellated to do public penance for sins, actual and dogmatic.
The problem with these long and very public apology tours is that they keep the sin front and center. Had Azaria apologized, retreated, and kept quiet, another sinner would have taken the stage, pushing him to the shadows.
What's more, Apu was never a slur against Indians, at least no more so than any other Simpsons character was a slur against his or her own race, clique, cohort, or tribe. It's satire. Like Carl, also once voiced by Azaria, no insult to any race or people is intended, nor should any insult be taken.
And let's be honest, until this wave of extreme social justice hit, did anyone know or care that Carl and Apu were voiced by a talented mimic of a different tribe? Were any non-white voice actors kept from working because Azaria could imitate non-white voices? Was any non-white person shunned or discriminated against because of Azaria's portrayal of two non-white minor characters in an animated TV series?
Hollywood needs to get over itself. This isn't Mississippi Burning and Hollywood's SJWs aren't Freedom Riders.
Conan the Grammarian at April 14, 2021 5:44 AM
What would reparations look like? Donating to a South Asian Cultural Center or something?
NicoleK at April 14, 2021 6:10 AM
Freddie Hightower? Did you mean Freddie Highmore?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Highmore
markm at April 14, 2021 6:52 AM
So, from the sound of things, should we be digging up James Doohan and demanding he apologize for talking with a Scottish accent on TV?
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at April 14, 2021 7:10 AM
> Hollywood needs to get
> over itself.
The rest of the world may be over Hollywood anyway. Was anyone on the planet looking forward to the 2021 Oscars?
Eh… Just looked it up, it's on the 25th. Anybody wanna bet that the ratings won't be the lowest since 19__? Hollywoodlians used to be the global fashion leaders… Now they're perhaps the most vulnerable figures in public life. The Azaria story is a late reminder that no one can say anything about culture, not even "Love your fellow mankind," without summoning the social media wrath of 100,000 underwear-clad ninnies in Mom's basement. Like Azaria, they won't be able to resist preening, even in front of the hornet's nest… And if they do simply thank their agent and the Academy, they'll catch Hell for not feeling the pain of the Somalis or something.
Crid at April 14, 2021 7:22 AM
Well, Doohan could give the SJWs the finger. You know, if he hadn't lost it on D-Day.
Conan the Grammarian at April 14, 2021 7:39 AM
Learning about that forty years later, it was like, aha!… So *that's* why the Jefferies Tube scene was shot at such a weird angle....
Crid at April 14, 2021 7:56 AM
That's the main question. To whom should the reparations money go, and in whose hands would it do the most good? Probably not in the hands of the people asking for it.
When Jesse Jackson was pushing for reparations, he suggested the money go to community and civil rights organizations, you know, like the ones he ran.
Remember all that money BLM got? Where did it go? 'cause it didn't go to the street-level BLM affiliates.
And now, a BLM cofounder just bought a $1.4 million house in Topanga Canyon (88% white) through a foreign corporation she set up. With what money was it set up?
Remember boys and girls, she's a self-professed "committed Marxist" opposed to capitalism and to the white bourgeoisie she apparently couldn't wait to live near.
Conan the Grammarian at April 14, 2021 8:38 AM
Here's the Black Lives Matter impact report.
https://blacklivesmatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/blm-2020-impact-report.pdf
Page 22 has the list of orgs they give to. Almost none have anything to do with criminal justice, police accountability, etc.
NicoleK at April 14, 2021 9:31 AM
Page 22 has the list of orgs they give to. Almost none have anything to do with criminal justice, police accountability, etc.
Its crazy how much is going to black trans groups, a minority within a minority. A quick google search said .6% of the population in the US is trans so I assume black trans are even less.
Shtetl G at April 14, 2021 10:21 AM
And now, a BLM cofounder just bought a $1.4 million house in Topanga Canyon
That's not the only real estate purchased. As I recall, she's obtained a home outside of Atlanta complete with an aircraft hanger, and access to a communal (?) runway. And something in the Bahamas, as I recall. Ah, here we are:
https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/inside-blm-co-founder-patrisse-khan-cullors-real-estate-buying-binge/
Remember, this is an avowed marxist. As Leonid Brezhnev's mother is supposed to have asked, aren't you afraid that the communists might come back?
I R A Darth Aggie at April 14, 2021 11:22 AM
She also raked in $20,000 month as the head of a jail reform initiative.
Conan the Grammarian at April 14, 2021 12:33 PM
Is Hank REALLY staggering under the crushing guilt of his horrific racism, or is this one of those 'sari/not sari' dealybobs?
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at April 14, 2021 1:40 PM
And while he is apologizing for playing a stereotypical Indian he maybe aught to consider doing the same for his role as Agador in the movie The Birdcage? And every other role/voice that he has ever done as they all seem to make fun of how someone else talks/acts.
charles at April 14, 2021 2:16 PM
I always felt like the real message of "The Problem with Apu" was, "Hey, all you Simpsons fans! Quit making Apu jokes. That stopped being funny 30 years ago!"
Fayd at April 14, 2021 3:58 PM
The black trans thing makes total sense when you consider Cullors is married to her co-founder, a black trans woman. My guess is that one or both of them sit on the BOD of these organizations and collect salaries from them as well as BLM. This is truly an impressive grift. Jesse and Al should be proud, these girls did good.
Sheep Mom at April 14, 2021 4:57 PM
What would reparations look like?
My suggestion: set up on a street corner with a few rolls of pennies, and give two cents to any Indian who comes to him and says (s)he was offended by Apu.
Rex Little at April 14, 2021 6:42 PM
A short minute of racism jokes.
Crid at April 14, 2021 8:00 PM
No, it should be a dollar. A couple pennies feels like an insult. You can buy a little something with a dollar though...
NicoleK at April 15, 2021 3:44 AM
A couple pennies feels like an insult.
That was the intent.
Rex Little at April 15, 2021 5:40 AM
Does it really matter where or to whom the money would be distributed? The larger point is in the shallowness of Azaria’s apology without some sort of atonement. Unless he accounts for and surrenders every dollar he was paid for voicing that character it is all just hollow signaling.
Rick Croley at April 15, 2021 7:32 AM
Does it really matter where or to whom the money would be distributed? The larger point is in the shallowness of Azaria’s apology without some sort of atonement. Unless he accounts for and surrenders every dollar he was paid for voicing that character it is all just hollow signaling.
Rick Croley at April 15, 2021 7:32 AM
Ah. Ye olde Catholic concept of guilt and atonement. God forgives, but expects one to do penance for one's sins. It's not a bad concept. Would that more religions taught the idea of penance.
Conan the Grammarian at April 15, 2021 8:26 AM
Would that more of them were blunt about sin.
Crid at April 15, 2021 1:49 PM
Hank, get a clue. I can show you a convenience store operator who looks and sounds just like Apu - who is dedicated to his store and a robbery survivor.
The ghost of Joan Rivers is scoffing at you.
Radwaste at April 16, 2021 4:33 AM
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