Kondabolu went on to cite other portrayals of South Asians in mainstream television and film—such as a man eating monkey brains in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and an actor petting a stuffed mongoose in a metroPCS commercial—as racist.

[6] In a 2015 interview, Azaria acknowledged the character's impact as fodder for widespread racially motivated bullying that targets children with South Asian heritage.

He agreed to have a discussion facilitated either by Terry Gross on the public radio program Fresh Air or on Marc Maron's podcast WTF, but according to Kondabolu, Azaria rescinded the offer once it was accepted.

Actors Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, Maulik Pancholy, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Samrat Chakrabarti, Sakina Jaffrey, Aasif Mandvi and Hasan Minhaj[10][6][11] relate childhood anecdotes of being called "Apu" by other children or having the character's catchphrases from the show said to them by strangers because of their perceived heritage.

[6] Kondabolu compares this instance of Azaria portraying a caricature of an Indian shopkeeper to blackface and interviews African-American actress Whoopi Goldberg, who is a longtime collector of racist ephemera from the 20th and 21st centuries.

In parts of the documentary, Kondabolu expresses his appreciation for The Simpsons as a subversive and culturally astute institution on the landscape of mainstream North American media.

"[19] Meenasarani Linde Murugan, writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books, contrasted the documentary's progressive advocacy with the view of media diversity promulgated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: In celebrating how far we have come, we should not only remember how brownface and brown voice persist on contemporary television, but also call out those public South Asian figures who would use this same history of ridicule to leverage a vision of the future wholly run by corporations that would further racial and economic inequity.

"[21] Neal Justin of Minneapolis Star Tribune noted "any criticism directed at the show's portrayal of the convenience-store owner in his documentary ... is drowned out by frustration that he can't land an interview with the character's voice actor.

[23][24][25] In October 2018, in the South Park episode "The Problem with a Poo", Mr. Hankey is expelled and sent to a land where "people don't care about bigotry and hate" – Springfield – where he is welcomed by Apu.

[34] In an interview with USA Today, creator Matt Groening dismissed the criticism of the Apu character, saying "I think it's a time in our culture where people love to pretend they're offended".

[35] Simpsons writer and producer Mike Reiss wrote in his 2018 memoir Springfield Confidential that he believed that Kondabolu had made a "nasty little documentary" and that taunting Indian children about Apu was not racist but "kids [being] dicks".

[36] During an appearance that same month on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Azaria said that he would be "perfectly willing to step aside" from the role of voicing Apu, saying that he was increasingly worried about the character causing harm by reinforcing stereotypes and that "the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it ...

"[39] In June 2020, in response to the George Floyd protests, the show's producers announced in a statement that The Simpsons will no longer have non-white characters voiced by white actors.

[42][43]In April 2023, Azaria and Kondabolu met for the first time in a public forum to discuss the documentary and how it impacted both comedians on NPR’s Code Switch podcast.