Hank Azaria to stop voicing Apu?

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What confuses me is the way people from places like India get so sensitive about any characters in any show that are stereotypical of their race and culture, but any other nationalities is OK to joke or stereotype about in a character (like British, Scottish, Spanish, etc).

Like having a British waiter in an American sitcom is OK, but if the waiter is, like, from India, it's suddenly racist.

That assumes for you that Indians are some kind of victim class. I don't necessarily agree that an autistic character has to be played by an autist - really, it's cornering the market. As long as they actually do a good job and play the character right and don't gob off in interviews, I'm alright with them.

This can be spun many different ways. While Apu does represent a stereotype, convenience stores in the area the show is created are predominantly owned and operated by Indians and I fail to see how business ownership is a bad thing.

Apu is an immigrant and like most immigrants, he has an accent and that accent is the accent of the English spoken in India by Indians. What if he were to speak with a standard American accent either just spontaneously or through accent reduction classes? Someone would may find fault with the lack of authenticity, perhaps citing a lack of proper representation of Indian culture or launch accusations of "white washing".

Most Indians speak English with an accent specific to India and that is the native Indian English accent and it is just as valid an accent as any other accent where English is spoken as a first, official or common language. I have met two Indians who speak with a standard American accent and this was by design. Their parents intentionally sent them to English speaking schools in India that taught American English and instructed them to speak English with an American accent and they are in the minority.

The Simpsons is a show of stereotypes, for those who haven't noticed, some negative, some positive. Homer is the "dumb American male" (many sitcoms), Marge is the quintessential American house wife who sticks by her stupid husband (also many sitcoms), Bart is the mischievous boy (The Little Rascals, Dennis the Menace, Mr. Belvedere, Growing Pains), Lisa is the progressive female (Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family). They have a rich greedy old white man, a burnt out teacher, a stern principal, a cool bus driver the kid like, a nerdy scientist, a senile old man, a big bully...if we really examine the issue, the show has more negative stereotypes, with Apu being one of the rare exceptions of a positive stereotype;
a polite, hard working immigrant with a succesful business.

That is my observation anyway.

The guy that goes on about racist views is probably a white Corbynite. Take no notice.

They make quite informed cultural references on there that local audiences will get.

It appears that they’ve decided to get rid of Apu.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/simpsons-reportedly-dropping-apu-amid-debate-over-character-n925096

Bummer.

The character could become much more than a mere stereotype.

But perhaps forgetting about it is for the best.

(Maybe they could get that frantic perpetual loser guy to take over the store ... ?)

Perpetual loser guy? Are you talking about Hans Moleman? Squeaky-Voiced Teen? Kirk Van Houten?

It's mostly white people who are offended by Apu, though

With the Simpsons dropping Apu, and South Park dropping Mr. Hankey, I am worried about the future of both shows, given they were very iconic characters.

why is SP dropping hankey?

They killed him off in the episode “The Problem with a Poo”

I guess he got wiped out then.

On the many Simpsons fan pages I am on on FB, there have been talks of a mass boycott of the show in light of the Apu decision.

Apu hasn’t spoken in a long time. He was already phased out of the show. This just makes it officlal. Kind of dumb to boycott it now.

May I ask why?

I've never been offended by Apu. I just saw him as another hilarious character. In fact I find I like the episodes about him a lot, and it has taught me some cool facts about India that I didn't know.

I feel the same about Apu as I do about Groundskeeper Willie and other characters that are foreign. It's nice to have diversities like that among the characters of the show. I love diversity of different races. And, stereotypes, well, every character has a stereotype, so why not the Indian character too? There is nothing to be offended about, I don't know what's wrong with people today.