The state of this forum. Jeez. I very much welcome differing opinions but the childish name calling and nonsense on display throughout this thread. This forum used to be a place where The Simpsons staff would secretly log on and see what the true fans of the show were thinking - genuinely would have no idea why they'd bother. Half of you are like a bunch of 13 year olds. No wonder I, as well as the other long time posters went years ago - forgetting our passwords and having to start new accounts.
Regarding the topic at hand. I think this decision asks more questions than it answers.
Such questions as - So we've established it's not acceptable for white people to comedically voice people of colour. Can straight people comedically voice gay characters? Can atheists or people from certain religions, comedically voice other people who belong to other religions? Can incredibly rich white people comedically voice lower working class people? I don't see how you can agree with the PoC move and not agree with the above. All of the above have suffered throughout history with oppression and there's still many examples of said oppression occuring today. So surely, we should apply the same rules?
I feel in recent years, the small minority which have access to the most power regarding culture (Far left) are no longer being offended by racism. They're being offended by things which remind them of racism. Hank Azaria voicing Apu is not racist. IF they brought in specific actors to voice every other nationality in the world except Apu, then yes - you could argue it's racist. OR if every Springfieldian was smart, ethical and wonderful - except from nasty Apu... then yes, again - a much better case for racism.
But no, Hank Azaria voicing Apu isn't racist. But what it does, is remind people of actual racism from the past. In the same way that Jimmy Fallon dressing up as his friend Chris Rock and wearing blackface - is not racist. I know, there's a part of a few of you now, screaming inside going 'WTF?!?!? B-b-b-but B-b-b-blackface!!!' but it's not. It just reminds you of racism. Because 50/60/70 years ago people did indeed wear blackface and were being actually racist. Also, how long do you want this ban to go on for? In 2820... should white people still be villified if they impersonate a black person? I want to know if it has an expiry date. Because usually offense does. If I made a joke about a victim of the Holocaust I'd be fired but if i made a joke about a tortured gladiator from the Roman empire, that wouldn't raise an eyebrow. I could rape the skull of a dead soldier from the Boar war, and nobody would mind. So yeah, when can we progress from this 'progressiveness'? Just asking.
So 2020... this is how progressive we are... we get offended by things which aren't offensive but remind us of something that offended us. And anybody who disagrees with this shall be cancelled, fired, de-platformed. This is incredibly dangerous. This will firstly tear apart art... because we can't create art in a culture which bans things which reminds us of actually horrible things. Because everything has to capacity to remind somebody of something that offends them. If 'reminding' is all it takes. It will then rip into society and I will not be surprised if you see racism on the rise. Trump will get another 4 years and the people on the left will be asking themselves "Huh? Why didn't they join our side after we consistantly silenced them, told them they're racist, sexist, homophobic, took away their TV shows and attempted to get them fired from their jobs? What's wrong with them??" ... does the left really think this is the smartest approach to reconciliation? It keeps making the same mistakes, not just in the states but worldwide, and it's reaction is not to learn from it's errors... but to double down on them harder and harder. I've never seen a more facist movement within western society in my lifetime.
Buuut anyhoo... as JJ said previously. If I were starting a new animated show today, I would hire black voice talent because I would want authentic sounding black characters. Although, going down this path does eventually lead to... 'okay, well are you also going to hire Asian voice talent?' 'And what about South Asian? And Latino? And Eastern European? And Middle East? etc. etc. You then begin to eat away at the art of voice acting and impersonations/impressions.
We will soon see The Simpsons having to hire a genuinely stupid hick to voice Cletus. And let me tell you, he'd have more right to be offended than any Indian has to the character of Apu. Hari the comedian said his childhood involved being teased, bullied and being called Apu. Does he genuinely believe, I want to sit him down and ask him this, does he genuinely believe that if Apu was voiced by an Indian since 1990... that those bullies would have left him alone and not seen any kind of connection? If a Chinese kid gets bullied and is called Jackie Chan when growing up... what do we do? Ban Jackie Chan? "Sorry, Jackie you have to go."