What did the creator of the ‘Velma’ series say about the attacks suffered by the character?

Bringing back to the small screen the beloved characters introduced in ‘Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?’ (1969), the series ‘Velma’, which arrived at the HBO Max catalog last Thursday, the 12th, presents a new vision of Shaggy Roogers, Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley.

The new animation that was co-created by Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy brings meddling teenagers wrapped in the classic atmosphere of mystery and comedy, but now focusing on the adult audience, where the group will have to unravel clues and problems that no longer involve masked crooks, but enigmatic murders.

In addition, the plot that also promises to reveal the origin of these iconic figures, offers physical characteristics different from those seen in the Hanna-Barbera drawing, since now Shaggy (who in the series is called by his given name, Norville) is a young black man . In addition to him, Daphne and Velma had their ethnicities changed, since the preppy girl in the group is Asian and the smart girl who wears glasses and an orange sweater is South Asian.

The changes made portray the actors behind the voices of the characters, since Sam Richardson (Norville) is a black humorist, mindy (Velma) is of Indian descent and Constance Wu Is (Daphne) is an actress of Asian descent. However, the change did not please a portion of animation fans from the 60s, who began to criticize the choice on social networks.

What did the creator of the ‘Velma’ series say about the attacks suffered by the character?

With emphasis on the title figure of the series, Kalingseries creator and Velma’s voice actress, provided details on the reactions in an interview with Late Night With Seth Meyers held in July 2021. , she noted.

But the positive and welcoming atmosphere went away when the news came out that the character would be reimagined, and that this time, Velma would be Indian. “People weren’t happy,” she said. “There was a lot of, ‘So, isn’t it Velma?’ These types of tweets. ‘Isn’t this the classic Velma I’m always thinking about?'”

The screenwriter and comedian who starred in ‘The Office’ also said she didn’t know Velma could provoke such strong reactions. “She’s such a great character, she’s so smart and I just couldn’t understand how people couldn’t imagine a really smart, nerdy girl with terrible eyesight who loved solving mysteries couldn’t be Indian. There are Indian nerds.”

The creator of ‘I Never…’ also revealed that the negative comments came from “a small percentage of people”, but that even so, the reactions were unexpected and activated the warning signal regarding the portrayal of the character.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to people, but people say, ‘No, no, no,'” she added. “It made me think, ‘Okay, we have to be really careful with this character,’ which we will because the We love her and she will have great adventures.”

Furthermore, in October 2022, more than a year later, Kaling admitted that the matter was still not over, as she was “constantly surprised by the reactions to everything on social media”

I think the characters in that are so iconic, but in no way is the gang defined by their whiteness, except for Fred,” she explained. “So I was a little bit taken aback and I think most Indian-American girls, when they see this skeptical, hard-working, slightly underrated character, can relate to her.”