Anyone who’s watched NBC’s The Office, whether once or six times, can attest to Mindy Kaling’s hilarious performance as Kelly Kapoor. Love her or hate her, Kelly’s character gets into such ridiculous situations and her boy-crazy personality is relatable to so many fans. However, Kaling didn’t just star in the show, she was actually a writer and executive producer for it as well. Kaling wrote twenty-two episodes of the show, including iconic episodes such as “The Dundies”, and “Niagara.” She then went on to be “the first woman of color to create, write, and star in a primetime sitcom” with her show, The Mindy Project,according to Elle Magazine’s interview with Kaling.
Her interview with the magazine has shed light on an incident that occurred during the early years of The Office, during which Kaling says The Television Academy singled her out. In her interview, Kaling explains that when the show was nominated for an Emmy, the Academy made her write an essay about her contributions to the show, and she had to get letters from “other male, white producers” to show what she had done on the show, despite her accomplishments being clear. Ultimately, she was put on the list, but her male counterparts did not have to jump through hoops to legitimize their accomplishments like she did.
The story does not end here, however. On Wednesday, October 9th, The Academy alleged that they did not single Kaling out. A spokesperson said that “Every performer producer and writer producer was asked to justify their producer credits,” due to concerns from years ago of many non-producers seeking credit. That same day, Kaling took to twitter to assert that she was singled out, stating that “there were other Office writer-performer-producers who were NOT cut from the list” and that it was done because she was the “Easiest to dismiss” due to being both the youngest and a woman of color. She says that her friends and other producers helped her, but that people “shouldn’t have to be bailed out because of the kindness of our more powerful white male colleagues.”
Despite the Academy’s statement, the fact remains that Kaling being asked to go the extra mile to prove something that her male counterparts did not demonstrates that she was singled out. Her accomplishments stand on their own, just like the other writer of the Office, and hopefully her interview along with her outspokenness on social media will encourage other minorities to speak out about times when they have had to work twice or three times as hard to achieve the same recognition as their counterparts.