Mindy Kaling claims the Television Academy tried to strip her of a producer credit on ‘The Office’.
The 40-year-old comic – who portrayed Kelly Kapoor and was executive producer on the NBC sitcom – alleged she faced far more scrutiny than her "male, white" peers to be included when the show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys one year as the institution had argued there were too many people listed under the title.
She told America’s Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood issue: "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.
"I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed, when my actual record stood for itself."
Ultimately, the ‘Late Night’ star was included but the show didn’t win.
The Television Academy have responded to Mindy’s comments, insisting she wasn’t "singled out".
They said in a statement: "No one person was singled out. There was an increasing concern years ago regarding the number of performers and writers seeking producer credits.
"At the time the Producers Guild worked with the Television Academy to correctly vet producer eligibility.
" 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 PGA to ensure those credited are actually functioning in the role as a producer."
But Mindy has insisted the statement "doesn’t make any sense" and though she "never wanted" to speak about it, she felt it was important not to "gloss over" her experience, even if it never happens to anyone else.
She tweeted: "Respectfully, the Academy’s statement doesn’t make any sense. 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 color. Easiest to dismiss. Just sayin’.
"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?.
"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.
"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."
Mindy Kaling in TV Academy row
