The Absurd Reason an Interviewer Was Baffled by Mindy Kaling’s Ocean’s 8 Character

The Ocean’s 8 press tour has blessed us with a lot of fun moments and stories, but the sexist (or plain weird) interview questions inevitably show up. Mindy Kaling went on Late Night with Seth Meyers where she and Meyers talked about her recent move to NYC and kid doctors, as well as her role in Ocean’s 8. (In another clip from the episode, she was reunited with Ellie Kemper to reminisce about The Office and “Subtle Sexuality” which is a pure delight.)

In the clip, Kaling describes being on a press tour and an interviewer asking Sarah Paulson, Anne Hathaway, and Kaling about their characters. The interview takes a sharp turn, however, when the interviewer can’t figure out how Kaling managed to, uh, play a character who knows about diamonds? Kaling recounts that when it was her turn, he asked her “Mindy, you play a jeweler. Now, you are not married and have never been engaged, so how do you know about diamonds?”

“Cause it’s all about diamonds and stealing diamond necklaces and I was like, sorry,” she continues, “so he was basically like, ‘How, you, a famous spinster? How would you—you’ve never been anywhere near a diamond before. No man has ever—as though if you’re not married and engaged, you’ve never seen a diamond.”

“It also seems to me that he has a fundamental misunderstanding of acting”, adds Meyers. “But he was so incredulous”, Kaling jokes, “he was like, ‘I can’t put this together! No man has ever loved you. So in what way would you—”.

Women in general tend to receive superficial and less interesting questions which is why we have movements like #AskHerMore, but insinuating that Kaling would be less qualified or able in a role because she’s unmarried is….something else. How does she know about diamonds? Because she can act? Because diamonds appear in other contexts? Because it was her job?

(image: screencap)

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