{"id":39953,"date":"2018-05-06T01:03:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T23:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/2018\/05\/06\/no-laughing-matter-how-can-the-simpsons-solve-its-problem-with-apu\/"},"modified":"2018-05-06T01:03:04","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T23:03:04","slug":"no-laughing-matter-how-can-the-simpsons-solve-its-problem-with-apu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/?p=39953","title":{"rendered":"No laughing matter: how can The Simpsons solve its problem with Apu?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is now the longest-running scripted US TV show. But celebrations are tainted by a race row over its Indian storekeeper\u2026Twenty-nine seasons in and 636 episodes since it first aired, The Simpsons last week officially became the longest-running scripted show in American primetime television history. But celebrations have been overshadowed. Once considered to be the high-water mark for biting satire, The Simpsons is the subject of a furore over racist stereotyping that is dividing cast and crew. The row can be summed up in one question: is it time to retire Apu Nahasapeemapetilon?Born in episode eight of the first series, Apu was written simply as \u201cclerk\u201d on the script, with the single line: \u201c35 cents, please.\u201d In his forthcoming book, Springfield Confidential, writer and former leading executive producer Mike Reiss reveals: \u201cBecause Hindu convenience store clerks were a movie cliche even back then, I inserted this stage direction under his line: \u2018THE CLERK IS NOT INDIAN.\u2019\u201d Continue reading&#8230;<br \/>\nVia: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tv-and-radio\/2018\/may\/06\/no-laughing-matter-can-simpsons-solve-apu-problem\" target=\"_blank\">No laughing matter: how can The Simpsons solve its problem with Apu?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is now the longest-running scripted US TV show. But celebrations are tainted by a race row over its Indian storekeeper\u2026Twenty-nine seasons in and 636 episodes since it first aired, The Simpsons last week officially became the longest-running scripted show in American primetime television history. But celebrations have been overshadowed. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldwidejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}