Mindy Kaling says Velma is 'an icon for young gay women' as she promotes HBO Max’s Scooby-Doo spin-off series Velma

Scooby-doo fans are disappointed after watching HBO Max’s Velma series. Their major disappointment comes from the fact that the makers did not stick to the precedent of the source material when adapting Scooby-Doo. However, the animated series’ female lead Mindy Kaling has a totally opposite belief. She believes that the makers have honouring the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon through the various changes they made to everything.

The series has been at the center of controversy since the beginning. When it was announced, Scooby-doo fans strongly reacted to the makers’ decision of showing Velma as an Indian.

Kaling recently revealed why she decided to make Velma Indian. “I love this opportunity I have now to be able to have representation of modern Indian American teens. There is not a lot of representation of Indian American girls in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s animation. And so, what I loved about that character is she’s the closest to what I can see. Smart, A-student, thick glasses that are always falling off, and skeptical,” she said.

Kaling continued, “She has a lot of these amazing qualities, so as a kid watching the reruns of the original Scooby-Doo I felt like, ‘Man I really identify with this character.’ I love that she exists. She’s not like traditionally gorgeous or anything, she just helps the gang because she’s so smart.”

She also claimed that Velma is an icon for gay women, “Velma’s self-discovery is a really big part of this series. We don’t want to ignore that she’s an icon for young gay women, and I think that’s really interesting. Her figuring it out is a big part of the show and why it’s really fun to do.”

Meanwhile, the news is coming in that HBO Max is ready to move forward with season two despite the fact that season one has not been met with love by fans.

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