In a candid chat that came out this Wednesday, Mindy Kaling expressed her displeasure with the Television Academy for their attempt to not give her the producer credit for The Office.
In the spotlight as one of the women coming on Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood topic, Kaling remembers in her interview her time working in NBC comedy’s nine-season run as an actress, executive producer, director and writer.
She reveals that during her stint the Television Academy told her they would bring her down from the producer’s list because there were a lot of producers listed on the series as it is. The move would have made Kaling ineligible to receive an Emmy if the show wins for best comedy series.
Kaling, who essayed Kelly Kapoor on The Office, revealed in the chat with the magazine that at that moment she was the only lady of color on the show and despite entering the list of nominees for the show, she had to speak for herself and prove her worth.
“They only made and not a single one of the rest of the producers, fill out an entire form and write an essay about all my efforts as a writer and a producer,” Kaling told Elle.
“I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers approving that I had made the following contributions when in reality my actual records spoke for themselves.”
Kaling also revealed that she is constantly tasked to deal with adversities due to her ethnic origins which keeps her “grounded.”
“In this country, American implies white. And rest has to hyphenate,'” said Kaling, also mentioning a quote by the late Toni Morrison.
“No matter how much cash I have … I endure bad treatment with enough regularity that it keeps me humble.”
In a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, an Academy spokesperson denied Kaling’s comments: “Not a single person was left out.
There was a rising worry a few years back with respect to the number of performers and writers staking a claim on producer credits.
At the time the Producers Guild was working with the Television Academy to accurately vet producer eligibility.”