Fortnite developer Epic Games has said it will adjust an image within its newly-launched The Simpsons season that depicts shopkeeper Apu Nahasapeemapetilon with light-colored skin.
Fans spotted the image earlier this week on the wall of Moe’s Tavern, where a classic picture from The Simpsons depicts Apu, Barney, Homer and Principal Skinner during their tenure as barbershop quartet The Be Sharps.
Apu is erroneously shown with the same yellow skin tone as his fellow singers, though as many were quick to point out, the character is depicted correctly in other pictures within the same location.
As bad as this looks, I’m pretty sure this was an oversight. He’s on a different picture presented correctly https://t.co/Rqyy5o79p3 pic.twitter.com/Q6mS2aV4XJ
— dille (@nescartridges) November 4, 2025
Now, amid press reports that suggested Epic Games was somehow trying to erase the character, the developer has responded with a short statement posted to social media. “This wasn’t intentional, it’s being adjusted in our next release,” Epic Games wrote, in an update on its Fortnite Status account.
Recent years have seen Apu take more of a backseat on The Simpsons, following the release of the 2017 documentary The Problem With Apu which strongly criticised the character as a racist South Asian stereotype. Long-term The Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria subsequently announced he would no longer portray the role — and since then, the character has only appeared without dialogue.
Earlier this week, Epic Games celebrated a spike in player numbers as Fortnite’s The Simpsons season launched to a positive response. Fans have poured praise on the game’s Easter egg-stuffed recreation of Springfield, though there has been criticism for this week’s introduction of new pet-like Sidekick cosmetics, which need to be bought multiple times to be fully re-customized.
Next up for Fortnite is a major end of year event on November 29 that will see The Simpsons’ mini-season end and a new Chapter Seven era of the game arrive — with the expectation the game will feature some kind of Quentin Tarantino crossover.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
