It's important to note that Al Jean neither confirmed nor denied the reports, just reiterated that Shankar is not a producer on The Simpsons and does not "speak for our show."

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The Top 30 Simpsons Episodes 31 IMAGES

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Following the controversy surrounding the character Apu in The Simpsons, it appears Fox is reportedly set to drop the character from the long running show.Speaking to IndieWire, producer Adi Shankar said that he got some "disheartening news" and claimed Apu will not be a part of the show he joined all the way back in 1990 during its first season.“I got some disheartening news back, that I’ve verified from multiple sources now: They’re going to drop the Apu character altogether,” said Shankar. “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.” Shankar followed up his statements by claiming this news was from "two people who work for “The Simpsons” and a third source who works directly with creator Matt Groening."When IndieWire reached for a comment from Fox, they received back a "cryptic response" from executive producer Al Jean."Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode ‘My Way or the Highway to Heaven.’”In April, Adi Shankar began a spec script contest where he set out to crowdsource a script that, in regards to Apu, "in a clever way subverts him, pivots him, writes him out, or evolves him in a way that takes a creation that was the byproduct of a predominately Harvard-educated white male writers’ room and transforms it into a fresh, funny and realistic portrayal of Indians in America.”He had hoped Fox would produce this winning script, but instead learned about its intention to simply remove the character altogether.“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,” said Shankar. “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.”The grand prize winner of his contest was Vishaal Buch, a family doctor in Bethesda, Maryland. His script doesn't simply focus on Apu, but "pulls in other prominent Indian Americans in hilarious ways to highlight the importance of diversity and individuality through the lens of “The Simpsons.”"While Shankar doesn't believe this script will be picked up by Fox, he has intentions to help create it through his Bootleg Universe YouTube page, which he has created short films inspired by such properties as The Power Rangers, Judge Dredd, and The Punisher.In addition to those projects, Shankar is also the co-showrunner for the recently released second season of the Netflix series Castlevania. In our review, we said "Season 2 of Netflix's Castlevania is even better than the first, as it offers a deep roster of heroes and villains"The Simpsons is currently in its 30th season and we recently ranked the best 30 Simpsons episodes in honor of that impressive milestone.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who hopes Shankar and Buch get the chance to tell their story of Apu. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.