A TV news channel in Argentina has been slammed for announcing the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit with a graphic that showed the character Apu from The Simpsons.
Alongside a video of Modi’s plane touching down in Buenos Aires for the conference, Cronic TV displayed an image of the convenience store owner, along with a headline “Llego Apu”, which roughly translates to “Apu arrived”.
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. pic.twitter.com/oNqZVpS4E5
— Patrick Gillespie (@Pat_Gillespie) November 29, 2018
Social media users reacted with dismay to the image, including comedian Hari Kondabolu, who made a documentary abut how the character of Apu is founded on racial stereotypes. “This can’t be true, right?” he said on Twitter earlier today.
BBC News correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan called the image “astonishing, ridiculous and racist”, while others criticised the news station for being disrespectful to a foreign leader and perpetuating stereotypes.
https://twitter.com/JayantBhushan1/status/1068500629524500480
Narendra Modi was not the only world leader to get an awkward reception at the G20. US President Donald Trump quizzed Australian PM Scott Morrison on the absence of his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull.
Morrison explained how our (frequent) leadership spills work, and it’s understood that the two spent much of their 25-minute talk discussing strategic matters in the Pacific.
