'The Simpsons' Showrunner Responds to 'South Park' Apu Joke

South Park ended Wednesday night's new episode with a major jab at The Simpsons, calling out the rival animated series for its ongoing Apu controversy. While the joke was a low blow at FOX's long-running series, The Simpsons showrunner had a pretty positive response to it all.

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter about the joke, Al Jean said that he knew it was all in good fun, and that South Park was actually showing The Simpsons a level of respect, saying that both series are in the same difficult position.

"It's actually in favor of us saying people are too critical. Hari Kondabalu [an outspoken critic of the Apu character] tweeted he thought they agreed with him but pulled the comments showing he was wrong. All season the show has had a #cancelsouthpark hashtag so my response (which I tweeted) is: #pleasedontcancelsouthpark."

As Jean pointed out, Hari Kondabolu did indeed tweet about the controversy after the episode aired. He joked, "Did South Park just side with me? WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

Did @SouthPark just side with me? WHAT IS HAPPENING? #CancelTheSimpsons #PleaseDontThough

— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) October 11, 2018

He also noted that he hopes The Simpsons doesn't actually get cancelled, confirming that he appreciates the show itself, just not the handling of the Apu character.

Jean himself also tweeted out on Wednesday night, asking for South Park to not be cancelled, acknowledging the respect the shows have for one another. He also retweeted a message from another user on the social media site calling the ending of the South Park episode "the animated equivalent of 'I feel your pain.'"

That ending was the animated equivalent of "I feel your pain."

— Alan Spencer (@MrAlanSpencer) October 11, 2018

This Sunday, The Simpsons will have its own joke aimed at another animated series -- fellow FOX darling, Bob's Burgers.

What did you think of South Park's jab at The Simpsons? Let us know in the comments!