And the character was one of the few representations of Indians to most Americans. It was common for Indian kids to be mocked with the accent and catchphrase. To this day, Indian talent are asked to do stupid ass accents like the dude from Big Bang Theory

That’s the problem with Apu that explained in the reallly good and funny documentary. It’s on Vimeo and less than an hour long, so I definitely suggest watching it

No one is saying Apu is all bad and his good characterization through the series is noted but the documentary does a good job of explaining “the problem with Apu”