Updated October 10th, 2019 at 19:16 IST
Mindy Kaling opens up on alleged sexism by Television academy
Mindy Kaling recently spoke about the alleged sexism she faced by Television Academy where she was asked to prove her contribution to her show by filling forms.
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Mindy Kaling recently spoke about the alleged sexism by Television Academy which organizes the Emmy Awards. She opened up on the sensitive issue at an interview where she spoke about the time when she worked at the NBC hit sitcom The Office. She said, "They made me, not any of the other producers, fill out a whole form and write an essay about all my contributions as a writer and a producer." She added, "I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed when my actual record stood for itself". The 40-year-old actor had been nominated for 6 Emmy awards. Five of those were for producing the show and one was for penning it down. Her show won five awards in total and got 38 nominations for various categories.
READ: Mindy Kaling: Writing 'Late Night' Was Satisfying
Television Academy responds
The Emmy award organizers responded to her claims by issuing a statement in their defence. The Television Academy said:
"No one person was singled out. ... Every performer/producer and writer/producer was asked to justify their producer credits. We no longer require this justification from performer/producers and writer/producers, but we do continue to vet consulting producer credits with the [Producers Guild of America] to ensure those credited are actually functioning in the role as a producer".
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The actress replies on Twitter
Kaling reacted to the official statement by the Academy on her Twitter account in a series of tweets. She wrote that only she was singled out because of her gender, colour and junior position in the team. She also wrote that she never brought up the issue before, since she was busy as well as happy working for The Office and did not want to have an adversarial relationship with the Academy which has the authority to enhance the career of people with awards. She also wrote that since she worked very hard, it was really humiliating for her as she had put so much effort into writing the show and the organization did not think she was capable of doing it. She said that it happened 10 years ago with her and maybe it doesn't happen anymore.
I’ve never wanted to bring up that incident because The Office was one of the greatest creative experiences of my life, and who would want to have an adversarial relationship with the Academy, who has the ongoing power to enhance our careers with awards? (1)
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling)
(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)
(3) The point is, we shouldn’t have 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.
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling)
Hey, @TelevisionAcad! I have been a proud member for years. I was the 1st woman of color nominated for writing a comedy script. Why not say “years ago we prevented a deserving woman of color from getting credit for her accomplishments. We’re sorry and it would never happen now.”?
— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling)
READ: Bollywood Meets Hollywood: Sonam Kapoor Bonds Big Time With 'Ocean's 8' Star Mindy Kaling
(With inputs from ANI)
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Published October 10th, 2019 at 16:51 IST