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Who Will Voice Apu On ‘The Simpsons’ Now? As Hank Azaria Steps Down

Apu is no longer in The Simpsons following Hank Azaria's remorse for voice acting the Indian cartoon character
Apu is no longer in The Simpsons following Hank Azaria's remorse for voice acting the Indian cartoon character

Apu voice actor, Hank Azaria recently said ‘sorry’ for playing The Simpsons character Apu, but who will play the character now?

Apu voice actor, Hank Azaria no longer plays the Indian character in the cartoon and hasn’t for years.

Azaria revealed recently told Armchair Expert that he wanted to apologise for enabling racial stereotyping in the role. 

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App from The Simpsons
Credit: Disney

He said: “Part of me feels like I need to go around to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologise.”

But who will voice Apu now? Let’s take a look…

Who will voice Apu in The Simpsons now?

Nobody has been confirmed yet, but creator Matt Groening confirmed in an interview with USA Today that he wants to bring the character back in a new way.

He said: “We’ve got plans for Apu, but we have to see if we can make the stories work.”

Is Apu Still in The Simpsons?

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has been a recurring character in The Simpsons since the cartoon first aired.

However, The Simpsons voice actor Azaria decided to step down from playing the character in 2017 and Apu was phased out of the cartoon a number of years ago. 

Simpsons‘ writer and director Jay Kogen commented on Apu’s removal on Twitter saying: “That’s old news as far as I know. A few years ago people made it clear they thought Apu was a hurtful racist stereotype. And Hank rightfully doesn’t want to be a part of it.”

Another Simpsons writer and director, Mike Reiss, also confirmed that the show had phased out Apu’s character back in 2018. 

The Simpsons Tweet
Credit: @jaykogen/Twitter

How many voices does Hank Azaria do for The Simpsons?

Azaria no longer plays Apu but he still is the voice for many other characters on the show. In fact, he plays many of the well-known characters such as Bartender Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum. 

He has been a voice actor with The Simpsons for over 30 years and will continue to do so in the future, as far as we know.

Featured Image Credit: Disney & Instagram/@hankazaria

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.