Friday night, Mindy Kaling appeared at a show put on by Aziz Ansari, who has most recently emerged from the shadows after controversy plagued the comedian and actor following allegations of sexual assault.
The show was a stop on Ansari’s Road To Nowhere tour and when Kaling decided to publicize her attendance why uploading a picture of her ticket stub, she was soon met with criticism from fans who disapprove of her support of Ansari amid such allegations.
She would soon head into the comment section to defend her choice to attend the showing for her friend and collaborator: “I’m a feminist and standing up for women is very important to me. I’m not rehabbing him Bc I think he did a fine job doing it himself.”
BuzzFeed reports that Kaling was also busy deleting comments under the post, including one that compared Ansari’s allegations to those of R. Kelly’s.
“I think comparing Aziz to R. Kelly was offensive and degrading to the victims of R. Kelly, so yeah, I deleted it,” she said.
Another fan criticized the actress for defending Ansari to which she would respond: “I am a champion of women. I am also a champion of my friend and do not believe they are mutually exclusive.”
On the subject, Ansari remained relatively quiet for months until he began to take the stage again after an allegation surfaced in a Babe.net article in January of 2018. He did keep things fairly serious when speaking about during a show in February according to Vulture.
“It made me think about a lot, and I hope I’ve become a better person,” Ansari reportedly admitted. “If that has made not just me but other guys think about this, and just be more thoughtful and aware and willing to go that extra mile, and make sure someone else is comfortable in that moment, that’s a good thing.”