NEW YORK, NY - Mindy Kaling was not happy when a journalist at SXSW attempted to give her show a diversity check. The “Mindy Project” creator and star lashed out during her Fox show’s panel after she was asked, “Was it a conscious decision for Mindy to be the only female doctor and the only doctor of colour on the show?”
In her series, Kaling plays an obstetrician-gynecologist whose quirky co-workers...
In her series, Kaling plays an obstetrician-gynecologist whose quirky co-workers...
include love interest Dr. Danny Castellano (played by Chris Messina) and Dr. Jeremy Reed (played by Ed Weeks). The rest of the women in the cast are receptionists or nurses. African-American actress Xosha Roquemore, the only other main cast member of colour, plays a nurse. But Kaling, whose mother was Bengali and whose father is Tamil, suggested it’s enough that she is the show’s star. “I look at shows on TV, and this is going to just seem defensive, but I’m just gonna say it: I’m a f—ing Indian woman who has her own f—ing network television show, OK?” she said.
After the audience applauded, Kaling brought up the fact that many of her contemporaries do not face the same line of questioning.
“I have four series regulars that are women on my show, and no one asks any of the shows I adore — and I won’t name them because they’re my friends — why no leads on their shows are women or of color, and I’m the one that gets lobbied about these things,” Kaling said. “I’m someone who’s writing a show and I want to use funny people. And it feels like it diminishes the incredibly funny women who do come on my show. ... It’s a little frustrating.” Last year, the 34-year-old actress responded to complaints that her character dates only white men played by B.J. Novak, Seth Rogen, and Mark Duplass. “Do people really wonder on other shows if female leads are dating multicultural people?” she said in Entertainment Weekly. “Like I owe it to every race and minority and beleaguered person. I have to become the United Nations of shows?” (From Media Reports)
After the audience applauded, Kaling brought up the fact that many of her contemporaries do not face the same line of questioning.
“I have four series regulars that are women on my show, and no one asks any of the shows I adore — and I won’t name them because they’re my friends — why no leads on their shows are women or of color, and I’m the one that gets lobbied about these things,” Kaling said. “I’m someone who’s writing a show and I want to use funny people. And it feels like it diminishes the incredibly funny women who do come on my show. ... It’s a little frustrating.” Last year, the 34-year-old actress responded to complaints that her character dates only white men played by B.J. Novak, Seth Rogen, and Mark Duplass. “Do people really wonder on other shows if female leads are dating multicultural people?” she said in Entertainment Weekly. “Like I owe it to every race and minority and beleaguered person. I have to become the United Nations of shows?” (From Media Reports)
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