Mindy Kaling calls TV Academy out over ‘Office’ producer credit

Oct. 10 (UPI) — Mindy Kaling says the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences previously singled her out and attempted to strip away her producer credit on NBC’s “The Office.”

Kaling first made the comments as part of a cover story for Elle magazine published on Wednesday.

The actress told the publication that the Television Academy, which produces the Emmys, was going to cut Kaling from the list of producers on “The Office” after the show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. The reason was due to there being too many producers on the series with the Television Academy forcing Kaling to prove that she deserved recognition.

“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,” she said. Kaling was added to the list of producers despite “The Office” not winning the award.

The Television Academy responded to the comments with a statement sent to The Los Angles Times.

“No one person was singled out,” a spokesman said. “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.”

Kaling responded to the statement on Twitter in multiple tweets.

“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’,” Kaling said.

“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,” she continued.

“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,'” she said.