Hank Azaria wants to apologize 'to every single Indian person' for voicing Apu character on 'The Simpsons'

Azaria continued: 

"I dealt with it the way I deal with any crisis in my life: programmatically. A lot of feelings, a lot defensive feelings, a lot of hurt, a lot of anger. I want to cry, 'No fair.' All kinds of things. So, my training as a recovering [addict] is when my feelings are at their peak, I need to shut up. I need to process those feelings, and I need to listen and learn. In the case of this topic, racism, my participation in racism or at least a racist practice or in structural racism as it relates to show business, or whatever you want to call it. That took a while. That was not, like, a two-week process."

Azaria said he "really didn't know any better," but following the documentary, he began wondering whether to continue voicing Apu and knew he needed to "educate myself a lot." He revealed he read a lot and talked to Indian people or people with expertise in racism to gain a better understanding of his part in a larger societal problem.

After Padman jumped in to give crucial perspective and specifically explain the importance of representation to combat "stereotypical portrayals," Azaria added:

"One student in particular, I was speaking to my son's school. I was talking to the Indian students there. I wanted to get their input. Seventeen-year-old boy—maybe a year ago, two, maybe three years—he's never even seen The Simpsons but knows what Apu means. It's practically a slur at this point. All he knows is this is how his people are thought of and represented to many people in this country. Still! With tears in his eyes—and it was so sweet the way he put it—he said, 'Will you please tell the writers in Hollywood that what they do and what they come up with really matters in people's lives? Like, it has consequences?' 

"I said to him, and I'm gonna say to you right now, I really do apologize. ... I apologize for my part in creating that and participating in that. You know, part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize."

The six-time Primetime Emmy winner previously explained his decision to leave the character behind in a February 2020 interview with The New York Times. Two years before that, Azaria appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You can watch that clip or listen to the full podcast episode below.