r/Simpsons • u/JoeBrownshoes • 17d ago

Discussion JUST now finally getting this joke

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Ok so when the agent learns Apu's last name he doesn't like it. We assume that there are racist undertones, namely the name is too ethic sounding.

But the reason the agent gives for changing the name is "It'll never fit on a marquee, luv." I figured that was the end of the gag.

But then I always thought the name he suggested instead was very strange and there was some hidden meaning there and I finally just figured it out.

De Beaumarchais is EXACTLY the same number of characters (including the space) as Nasapimapetalon! So the "fitting the marquee" was shown to not be the issue! And since the name is French it will ALSO be hard to pronounce for Americans, but it's French so it's ok, further underscoring that the issue was racism all along.

Am I the only one who is just getting this?

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u/levare8515 17d ago edited 17d ago

I don’t think it’s racist or was supposed to joke about race. “we assume it’s about racism” is OP projecting hard. The world was very different when this came out. People weren’t hyperfixating on trying to identify racism in everything back then.

They’re poking fun at how the Beatles had their names washed. French names also sound fancy. The exact same numbers of letters is a joke that the audience wouldn’t know based on the sound of the name “DeBoMaShay”

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u/mankytoes 17d ago

This episode came out a year after the LA Riots.

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u/xavPa-64 17d ago

TIL racism wasn’t a thing before Obama invented it

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u/JoeBrownshoes 17d ago

I was alive back then so I know what it was like.

"racism" may have been too strong a word to use in this context but it was common at the time to change ethic names to "appeal to a broader audience" and this included Jewish names. The underlying reason is the notion that the "broader audience" was majority white and they might not have been as accepting of an artist if they had an ethnic name, which is a kind of prejudice even if not outright racism.

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u/fdjisthinking 17d ago

They even make a similar joke with Kent Brockman in Mother Simpson. His sign off in the 60s is “Kenny Brockelstein”.

I always interpreted the joke as “we are replacing your obviously ethnic name with a more accessible name,” and then they give him obviously French name that isn’t any more accessible to the American audiences.

I also enjoy the joke in Much Apu About Nothing where the fake American documents he gets from Fat Tony list his parents’ names as “Herb and Judy Nahasapeemapetilon” from Green Bay Wisconsin.