Mindy Kaling opened up about the time the Emmys tried to discredit her work on The Office

Before she was the star of and brains behind her own show, The Mindy Project, and before she had the opportunity to put women of color at the helm of projects like Late Night, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Never Have I Ever, Mindy Kaling said she almost didn’t get credit for one of her biggest projects to date: The Office. Kaling produced, wrote, and starred in the sitcom, but she said the Emmys tried to invalidate her work on the show.

In an October 9th interview with ELLE Magazine, Kaling opened up about that experience, what it’s like to tackle race and gender inequality in her media projects, and how her ability to seamlessly do so has made her a role model for women and people of color.

Soon after Kaling hopped on The Office as a producer, after being hired at age 24 to write for the hit Steve Carrell-led sitcom, the show was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. However, this great news was muddled by the Television Academy, which organizes the awards show. Kaling said the Academy told her she would have to be cut from the producer list because there were simply too many producers on the show.

In doing so, the Television Academy would have thwarted Kaling’s eligibility for receiving an Emmy for her work—the same work her white, male cohorts were being awarded for.

This extra-credit assignment did result in Kaling’s name being added back to the producer list. But The Office ultimately did not win the Emmy.

After her ELLE interview went live, the Television Academy responded via The Los Angeles Times, but Kaling wasn’t having it.

The spokesperson added that the justification process is no longer required, though the Academy continues to vet consulting-producer credits to make sure everyone on the list is actually a functioning producer.

However, this response did not sit right with Kaling.

“I *was* singled out,” Kaling tweeted on October 9th. “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.”

She followed up by writing that she never wanted to bring up this incident. Not only was The Office a shining moment in Kaling’s life, but “who would want to have an adversarial relationship with the Academy, who has the ongoing power to enhance our careers with awards?” she wrote.

As one last attempt to offer an opportunity for the Academy to right its wrongdoing, Kaling fired off a final tweet: “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?'”

The Academy has yet to respond to Kaling’s call-out. But many others who stand with her have, including Jameela Jamil and Nina Garcia.

We’ll be waiting to see if and how the Television Academy chooses to respond to Kaling, and we will continue to stand by our role model every step of the way.