because a white actor, hank azaria, did the accent. -yeah. the accent is definitely a part of it.t laughter. '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 taking on... or you are taking on a well-loved tv anow taking on the 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 ta broad audience? -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 ow, 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 being who we were. there was an embarrassme