Reddit Fuels Mindy Kaling to Speak Out About Race & Sitcoms

As a star on The Mindy Project, Mindy Kaling has become one of the most beloved names on television.

While Kaling often strays away from discussing race, he recent tweet posed a somewhat rhetoric challenge for publications to write about white leads dating outside of their race.

"Someone write an article about white leads on shows who won't date outside their race. You've got PLENTY of options. I dare you," said Kaling in her tweet earlier today.

Someone write an article about white leads on shows who won't date outside their race. You've got PLENTY of options. I dare you.

-- Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) November 12, 2015

One fan believes that it was due to a fan being rude to her during her Reddit Ask Me Anything session yesterday.

As it turns out a fan questioned Kaling as to why her show has such little diversity and why there are few men of color on the show.

The fan also went on to compare Kaling's show to Ansari's Netflix comedy, "Masters of None," by claiming that Ansari's show was "a show that does it right."

"Hi! Great question. I think I disagree with your premise. We have six series regulars. One, the lead, is me, an Indian woman. Another is an African American woman," said Kaling in her response.

"That's a third of our cast - although of course I hate to think of us in those terms. Utkarsh and Randall Park both recur on our show. I do think it's important though, we can always do better.

I always think it's funny that I'm the only asked about this when sitcoms I love with female leads rarely date men of color.

I guess white women are expected to date white men. I'm expected to "stick to my own."

The fan didn't stop at one question, they also questioned Kaling adding the "stereotypical sassy black woman" as they put it in their question.

Meanwhile, the fan also pointed out that the character Tamra was later rounded out after Kaling received criticism.

"I think you're talking about Tamra. I'm sad you reduce her to a 'sassy black woman,'" said Kaling to the fan.

"Xosha is hilarious and gorgeous and nails lines like 'A cranberry turtleneck is what you give your aunt graduating from court reporter school.' Is it because Tamra wants to be famous and loves to perform at work and puts a value on superficial things?"

"I loved playing that as Kelly on the Office, and I love that Tamra is young, loves celebrity, and is confident and into herself. I hate that it's reduced to someone else's version of a racial stereotype."

Immediately after her tweet, fans began responding with television shows they noticed may have had that problem up until late in their seasons. One show that stood out the most was Friends.

A fan pointed out that Friends went six seasons before one of the all white cast members dated outside their race. Fans can remember Ross and Joey fighting over Kristen (Gabrielle Union).

In light of the recent small surge in Indian actors fellow comedian Aziz Ansari has also been pretty vocal when addressing Indian characters on TV, it's actually the name of an episode "Masters of None," a new Netflix comedy that finds Ansari dealing with issues such as the one in question.

Ansari will be holding a Reddit AMA for "Masters of Non" tonight.

In February 2015 a writer by the name of Samhita Mukhopadhyay penned an article expressing her thoughts and giving an explanation as to why Kaling doesn't talk about race. The article almost condemned Kaling for not being vocal enough on race more particularly, addressing race beyond just saying she is a South Indian woman with her own South Indian television show.

Though it seems as if her recent encounters on the Reddit AMA has sparked a more vocal response to the subject.