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". Dana Walden, the CEO of 20th Century Fox Television, said in an August 2018 interview in regard to the Apu controversy that the network trusts the showrunners "to handle it in the way that's best for the show". 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. The episode ended with a title card, #cancelthesimpsons, similar to the promo for "South Park" which called for the cancellation of itself. However, on the DVD commentary South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone stated that the people on "The Simpsons" are their friends and that joke wasn't a jab at "The Simpsons" but at the documentary and that they found it amusing how many misinterpreted the joke as an attack on "The Simpsons". Al Jean also tweeted about the episode "It's actually in favor of us saying people are too critical."