because a white actor, hank azaria, did the accent. -yeah. it's such a narrow way to be seen.rt of it. it's an accent meant to elicit laughter. it's not that realistic. the fact that everything he did always was connected to his indianness or what, like, the white writers and executives thought indianness was. -you were tang on... or you are taking on a well-loved tv shown and takinge question of apu in relation to identity politics, so what was your process in deciding how to present this issue in a way that would make sense and matter to a broad auence? -sure. i mean, i think "the simpsons" is a great place to start because it's "the simpsons." it's a global show. like, there's so many of us who grew up on it. "the simpsons" at its peak influenced so much of the conversation of the country. i mean, it was a very important show, so that already gave me a place, an institution to start from. -what was the impact, do you think, of apu? -i mean, i think for a lot of young south asian-americans, i think it shaped our identity. there was a certain embarrassment sometimes about bei