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Mindy Kaling, the main lead and executive producer of the Scooby-Doo spin-off series, Velma, continues to receive backlash from fans, who are critical of the show's writing, humor, and dialogue. They have also accused her of race-swapping three of the four main characters in the show, Daphne, Shaggy, and Velma herself.
In a video posted on December 22, 2022, which garnered over 332 million views and 60,000 likes, a Tiktok user by the name of Jasmine (@totallyprincessjasmine) slammed Mindy Kaling for her perpetuation of the "Indian loser" stereotype.
They said:
"Mindy Kaling. Just because you are an Indian loser, does not mean Indians are losers, at this point you're genuinely doing more harm than good."
This criticism towards Kaling is also connected to her involvement in another HBO Max series, The S*x Lives of College Girls, which Mindy Kaling created and produced. Fans claim that the show also perpetuated the "Indian loser" stereotype when in one scene, one of the characters Bela, essayed by Amrit Kaur, talks to her parents and tells them how she was formerly an "Indian loser."
Mindy Kaling faces backlash from fans for her portrayal of Velma
Another TikTok user, Aqil Dhanani (@aqildhanani) backed Jasmine's views by attaching their video clip to his post where he called out not only Mindy Kaling but also other Indian-origin comedians like Russell Peters and Lilly Singh for their part in the perpetuation of the stereotype.
He said:
"If you're in America and you want to be racist against Black people, you can deep dive into the ancient tomes of racism and find a stereotype or a slur. Same with East Asians, same with Latinos. But if you want to make fun of South Asians, where do those insults usually come from? South Asian comedians."
He continued:
"Mindy Kaling, Russell Peters, Lilly Singh, what do they talk about? Our parents talk funny and they beat us and we eat stinky food and we are stinky and there's hair all over."
Meanwhile, other fans have taken to Twitter to attack Kaling for her portrayal of Velma Dinkley as an "Indian loser" in the latest series.
Velma is not only receiving criticism from fans because of the "Indian loser" stereotype. It has also been criticized for its unfunny humor, bad writing, and its butchering of classic fan-favorite characters like Daphne Blake, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, and Fred Jones. Fans were also upset due to the absence of Scooby Doo himself.
All the anger and hate towards Velma harks back to a comment Mindy Kaling made at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation in New York City, where she told the audience:
"Hopefully you noticed my Velma is South Asian. If people freak out about that, I don't care."
She then further angered fans by saying that if a dog (Scooby Doo) can solve a crime, Velma "can be brown," according to Deadline.
Velma's Rotten Tomatoes score and reviews
On Rotten Tomatoes, Kaling's Velma currently sits at a critics' score of 53% and an audience score of 7%. Some critics had positive reviews for the show and rated it fresh. Critic Coleman Spilde from The Daily Beast wrote:
"HBO Max’s hotly anticipated origin story of the brains behind Mystery Inc. is well worth the wait, with a compelling mystery and even funnier punchlines. (And yes, she is queer!)"
However, some critics had more negative feedback to give about the show. Rendy Jones of Paste Magazine gave it a rotten rating, writing:
"A hodgepodge of ideas that never connect, especially in its humor. The comedy lands when it veers into absurdism with visual gags and everything Howerton's Fred says. What falls flat is the frustrating meta approach it takes."
Whether opinions on Velma will change or not remains to be seen, but as evidenced by the low audience score and netizens' reactions online, viewers have not been huge fans of the series so far.
What do you think of Mindy Kaling stereotyping the "Indian loser" archetype? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
