Mindy Kaling’s DNC appearance, explained 

Mindy Kaling has had a challenging few years, what with the near-violent rejection of her Scooby-Doo spin-off Velma, but she’s bouncing back just fine.

That initial wave of criticism doesn’t seem to have slowed her much, to be fair, after decades of enduring harsh and often racist pushback. Kaling’s been a staple of comedy since her early days interning for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. In the years since, she’s lended her comedic talent to a range of popular projects, from The Office and The Mindy Project, to Inside Out and The Sex Lives of College Girls.

She’s also lending her talent to political campaigns, these days, as pressure mounts on public figures to get involved in the contentious 2024 election. As we eye down a potential second presidency for disastrous dunce Donald Trump, Kaling is stepping up — along with dozens of other stars — to throw her weight behind Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Why did Mindy Kaling speak at the DNC?

Kaling was one of dozens of celebrities — and celebrity-adjacent figures — that made a showing at the 2024 DNC, stepping up to show their support for Kamala Harris. Kaling only spoke for a few minutes on the third night of the event, but her four-minute speech became a major focus of the night after she left audience members in stitches.

Starting off strong by proclaiming herself “the woman who courageously outed Kamala Harris as Indian in an Instagram cooking video,” Kaling zeroed in on the human behind the political campaign. Her entire speech was focused around who Harris is as a person, rather than who she is as a senator or vice president. She referred to the presidential candidate as a longtime friend, and leaned hard on stories of their shared background — both having come from immigrant Indian mothers who unfortunately passed to cancer — and the values that background instilled in Harris.

Kaling also spent a fair chunk of her speech discussing that aforementioned Instagram video, in which she and then-Senator Harris cooked “Dosas, a South Indian dish.” She lauded the vice president for her approachable nature, and particularly for the care she took to remain on equal footing with her host. Rather than make attempts to look better than Kaling — something she apparently is, at least when it comes to cooking — Harris was respectful and kind, “complimenting me every step of the way, making sure that my daughter Kit heard how good of a cook I am.”

That same kind, approachable nature is exactly what’s drawing voters toward the Harris campaign. Particularly when compared against Trump, a tantruming would-be tyrant with no humanity to speak of, Harris is gloriously, refreshingly normal. She’s affectionate and warm, she’s bubbly and cheerful, and most importantly she’s smart. Smart enough to be a district attorney, a senator, a vice president, and hopefully someday soon, a president.