'The Simpsons' showrunner hit outs at reports Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is being written out of the show

'The Simpsons' showrunner Al Jean has hit back at reports Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is being written out of the programme.

The animated series has come under fire for making the Indian-American Kwik-E-Mart owner a racist caricature and it was claimed over the weekend by 'Castlevania' animator Adi Shankar that the character is to be axed entirely.

However, Al tweeted: "Adi Shankar is not a producer on the Simpsons.  I wish him the very best but he does not speak for our show."

Adi had told Indie Wire he'd written a script to tackle the "Apu problem" but it was rejected because producers planned to cut the character entirely.

He said: "I've verified from multiple sources now - they're going to drop the Apu character altogether. They aren't going to make a big deal out of it, or anything like that, but they'll drop him altogether just to avoid the controversy ...

"If you are a show about cultural commentary and you are too afraid to comment on the culture, especially when it's a component of the culture you had a hand in creating, then you are a show about cowardice. It's not a step forward, or step backwards, it's just a massive step sideways.

" After having read all these wonderful scripts, I feel like sidestepping this issue doesn't solve it when the whole purpose of art, I would argue, is to bring us together."

A debate was sparked about the depiction of the Kwik-E-Mart owner by comedian Hari Kondabolu's 2017 documentary 'The Problem with Apu' - which featured commentary and opinion from Aziz Ansari, Whoopi Goldberg and Kal Penn among others - which discussed whether or not Apu had caused casual racism in the US and whether or not the fact that a white actor, Hank Azaria, had voiced the Indian character was a form of brownface minstrelsy.

This article was first published on BANG Showbiz and is republished here with permission.