PM Modi Greeted with Racist Apu Meme on Arrival at G20 Summit in Argentina

The G20 summit currently taking place has already seen plenty of drama due to stand-out moments like a bizarre high-five between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince being recorded and the clip going quickly viral. There was also the embarrasing faux-pas by the Argentine delegation meant to receive Emmanuel Macron which got delayed, leading to the French President being greeted by an empty airport.

And, now there's this: Cronica TV, an Argentine news channel, displayed an image of The Simpsons character Apu even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Buenos Aires. The channel used the headline "Apu arrives" as the Indian PM's plane touched down in the South American nation's capital, leading to widespread condemnation on social media.

Argentine TV outlet @CronicaTV displays this racist image with the headline “Apu Arrived” as India Prime Minister @narendramodi arrives in Buenos Aires for the #G20. pic.twitter.com/oNqZVpS4E5

— Patrick Gillespie (@Pat_Gillespie) November 29, 2018

This Channel is a joke even here in Argentina, we truly apologize for this discriminatory joke and you people from India are totally welcome if you want to laugh at our president, even if he is a joke himself. pic.twitter.com/Ylb5KJyHie

— f e d e (@fede_arroyo) November 30, 2018

That channel is a shame.

— paleolibertario (@libertadancap) November 30, 2018

I'm sorry @narendramodi. But you need to know that @CronicaTV is the garbage of the past in my country. Real people aren't like this. Best regards. https://t.co/rJM50vsJRY

— Proyecto W (@w_proyecto) December 1, 2018

.@cronicatv @cronica is our most embarrasing and yellow media outlet managed by kirchnerist idiots @pat_gillespie, all respect to @narendramodi.

— Apu 🌱🔬💚 (@Apuntes_) November 30, 2018

One of the longest running animated shows on American TV, The Simpsons came under intense scrutiny after Indian-American Hari Kondabolu's documentary The Problem with Apu highlighted the stereotypical depiction of Indian immigrants in Hollywood.

The sitcom recently addressed the criticism over Apu's characterisation in the episode No Good Read Goes Unpunished. However, it failed to pacify the viewers and was slammed on social media for its tone-deaf response to the controversy. Following this, the show's producers announced that they would be writing out the character, who has been voiced by Hank Azaria since first appearing in a 1990 episode.

Kondablu also took to Twitter, following the Argentine channel's misstep, to express his disbelief.

This couldn’t be true, right? https://t.co/xiEzNgpXip

— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) November 30, 2018