After 31 years working behind the counter of Springfield’s Kwik-E-Mart, Indian shopkeeper Apu is going to be dropped from The Simpsons, sources close to the programme have claimed.

The cartoon character, voiced by white actor Hank Azaria, prompted heated debate in recent months after he was branded a racist caricature in a TV documentary, The Problem with Apu.

The documentary’s presenter, US comedian Hari Kondabolu, claims the character is tainted “a little bit of the poison of racism”.

“Apu reflected how America viewed us: servile, devious, goofy,” Kondabolu said.

Rather than calling for the character to be killed off, however, he urged the writers to “keep him” and “complicate” him, to make him less of a stereotype.

But now insiders are saying that Apu will instead be written out of the show following the racism row.