Mindy Kaling uses Warner Bros Discovery Upfront presentation to let everyone know that she does not care what people think about her Scooby-Doo animated spinoff Velma on HBO Max.
She said “If a dog can solve crimes, then her Velma “can be brown, Hopefully, you noticed my Velma is South Asian, If people freak out about that, I don’t care.”
HBO Max purchase the Scooby-Doo spinoff from Kaling last year. Velma tells the story of Velma Dinkley who is the unhonoured and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang.
Kaling Addressing Turning ‘Velma’ Into Story About South Asian Crime Solver
Executive producers of the series are Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein, and Sam Register. The series is from Warner Bros. Animation. As the show announced, Twitter is filled up with complaints about Kaling’s new project
Some pointed out how making Velma into a studious Asian nerd plays into stereotypes. Mindy Kaling addressed and said “When it was announced that I was going to do the voice of Velma, people were very supportive and happy on Twitter. And so I felt great,”
She further continues. “Then it was announced that the Velma character would be reimagined as South Asian. And people were not happy. There was a lot of, like, ‘So not Velma!’ That kind of tweet.”
She added that social media debate encouraged her to “be careful” when taking on a beloved character. Kaling Velma spinoff is part of HBO Max.