Mindy Kaling defends South Asian Velma on 'Scooby-Doo' spinoff, doesn't 'care' if people 'freak out'

Mindy Kaling doesn’t care what you think about her version of Velma Dinkley, forging ahead with her Asian-inclusive reimagining of the classic “Scooby-Doo” character.

Kaling appeared at the Warner Bros Discovery Upfront presentation Wednesday to discuss the upcoming HBO Max series “Velma,” which serves as an adult animated spinoff of the popular children’s franchise “Scooby-Doo.” The Emmy-nominated actress will serve as executive producer and star of the series, in which she'll play Mystery Inc.'s uber-smart Velma Dinkley.

An image from the show, featuring a startled Velma looking down at a mutilated individual, was shown during Kaling’s presentation. Kaling also pointed out Velma's dark skin tone, reflecting the character’s decidedly Asian descent.

"Hopefully you noticed my Velma is South Asian," Kaling told the audience. "If people freak out about that, I don’t care." She added: "Nobody ever complained about a talking dog solving mysteries so I don’t think they’ll be upset over a brown Velma."

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Kaling has previously spoken about the criticism her reinterpretation of Velma has received from fans, despite the initial support she received.

"When it was announced that I was going to do the voice of Velma, people were very supportive and happy on Twitter," said Kaling during an appearance on NBC's "Late Night With Seth Meyers" in July.

"So I felt great, because these are really intense fans – cartoon, comic-book fans."

But Kaling told host Seth Meyers that the backlash was swift, and "people were not happy."

"There was a lot of, 'So, not Velma?' Those kinds of tweets," Kaling said. (For example, one user tweeted in June: "It's Velma, except she's Asian and there's no Mystery Inc. in other words, it's not Velma.")

Kaling added "it shouldn't be a surprise to people" that Velma could be of South Asian descent.

"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 to solve mysteries could not be Indian," Kaling said. "There are Indian nerds."

Kaling admitted to Meyers she was surprised that Velma "elicited such strong reactions in either direction," noting that only "a small percentage of people" reacted negatively.

"It made me think, 'OK, we've got to be really careful with this character,' which we will be because we love her and she's going to have great adventures," Kaling said.

This is not the first time Velma has been played by an actress of Asian descent. Hayley Kiyoko played the iconic brainiac in the 2009 live-action adaptation "Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" and its 2010 sequel "Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster."

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Contributing: Cydney Henderson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mindy Kaling defends South Asian Velma on 'Scooby-Doo' spinoff