Almost Removed From 'The Office' Credits, Mindy Kaling Speaks Up

Mindy Kaling, an actress, writer and producer of one of the favourite workplace comedy series ‘The Office’ has alleged Television Academy and the organisation in charge of Emmy Awards of attempting to drop her from the producer list of the comedy series. However, her name was ultimately included in the producers' list. She was able to share five consecutive comedy-series nomination as the producer of ‘The Office’ between 2007 and 2011. But, Kaling deemed it necessary to bring this back on the public platform and reveal the injustice meted out to her. She intimated these assertions that happened years ago to the Elle magazine, contributing in its November issue that honours 2019 Women in Hollywood.

Key Takeaways:

• Mindy Kaling, the producer and writer of the sitcom ‘The Office’ has alleged the Television Academy of trying to remove her from the producers' list of the show. Though later her name was included.
• Kaling brought the controversy back on the public platform to reveal the injustice meted out to her for being a woman of colour. 
• Television Academy has also released a defence statement against Kaling's allegations saying she was not the only one to be singled out. 
• Kaling rendered the rebuttal senseless and took to Twitter to explain the reasons behind bringing the controversy to the public platform after these many years.  

Kaling's statement about the controversy

In her interview with the Elle magazine, Kaling, the writer of the “crowd-pleasing” comedy movie ‘Late Night’, said that the organisers of the Emmy Awards tried to remove her from the producers' list of ‘The Office’ exactly when the series was nominated for potential comedy series award. This attempt would have prevented her from accepting the award if the series won it. The 40-years-old women of colour said she was forced to go through an exhaustive procedure of writing an essay that highlighted her contribution in the comedy series. “I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed when my actual record stood for itself.” She said to the Elle magazine.  Kaling also said that the Television Academy justified its decision at that time saying that there were so many creatives in the credits of the show. Quoting late Toni Morisson, Kaling said, ““In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.” It really doesn’t matter how much money I have ... I’m treated badly with enough regularity that it keeps me humble.”

“I worked so hard and it was humiliating. I had written so many episodes, put in so much time in the editing room, just to have the Academy discard it because they couldn’t fathom I was capable of doing it all. Thankfully I was rescued by my friends, the other producers.”

Also Read: Poorna Jagannathan In Mindy Kaling’s Upcoming Project On Netflix

The rebuttal doesn't make any sense: Kaling on Twitter

The tussle between Kaling and the Television Academy extended to Twitter when Kaling responded to the academy’s rebuttal on Twitter. She rendered the academy’s rebuttal as senseless and revealed the reasons for her decision to take this issue to a public platform. On Wednesday, Kaling tweeted, “I *was* singled out. There were other Office writer-performer-producers who were NOT cut from the list. Just me. The most junior person, and woman of colour. Easiest to dismiss. Just sayin.”

The tweet was followed by a three-part thread that talked about her dedication and contribution to ‘The Office’ and how the initial reluctance to challenge the organisation shed and she decided to bring this issue on the public platform.

Kaling tweeted in a thread, “I worked so hard and it was humiliating. I had written so many episodes, put in so much time in the editing room, just to have the Academy discard it because they couldn’t fathom I was capable of doing it all. Thankfully I was rescued by my friends, the other producers.”

(2) But I worked so hard and it was humiliating. I had written so many episodes, put in so much time in the editing room, just to have the Academy discard it because they couldn’t fathom I was capable of doing it all. Thankfully I was rescued by my friends, the other producers.

— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) October 9, 2019

She further said, “The point is, we shouldn’t have to be bailed out because of the kindness our more powerful white male colleagues. Not mentioning it seemed like glossing over my story. This was like ten years ago. Maybe it wouldn’t happen now. But it happened to me.”

Picture Credit: Los Angeles Times

Rudrani Kumari is an intern with SheThePeople.TV

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