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Twitter aghast after Argentine news channel announces PM Modi's arrival at G20 summit with racist Apu meme

For the uninitiated, Apu is an Indian immigrant proprietor in the wildly popular TV series The Simpsons who speaks with a rather pronounced faux Indian accent and is noted for his catchphrase: “Thank you, come again."

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Racism rears its ugly head again and again, often without the perpetrators knowing they are being racist.  Something similar appears to have happened ahead of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires when PM Modi’s arrival was reportedly greeted by a news channel with the headline ‘Apu arrived’

Patrick Gillespie, a business reporter in Argentina, tweeted the picture with a caption: “Argentine TV outlet @CronicaTV displays this racist image with the headline “Apu Arrived” as India Prime Minister @narendramodi arrives in Buenos Aires for the #G20.”

For the uninitiated, Apu is an Indian immigrant proprietor in the wildly popular TV series The Simpsons who speaks with a rather pronounced faux Indian accent and is noted for his catchphrase: “Thank you, come again."

Many, including South Asian actors, felt Apu perpetrated many of the stereotypes about Indians and was borderline racist. Actor Kal Penn said he disliked the Simpsons because of the character. Many members of the South Asian community have also spoken how they are called ‘Apu’ mostly by their white peers, and actors have been asked to do the faux Indian accent.

Comedian Hari Kondabolu even made a 2017 documentary film called The Problem with Apu which explored the negative stereotypes, racial microaggressions and slurs against people of South Asian heritage, thanks to the character. He reacted to the story saying: 

Others too were surprised. 

Surely, in 2018, one can hope to leave behind such unadultered racism.

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