Aziz Ansari has been killing it. The 32-year-old actor is best known for playing Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation, but his career also includes four successful stand-up specials and a best-selling book. Now, Ansari is debuting his new Netflix series, Master of None, in which he stars as a 30-year-old actor trying to make it in New York City.
At a discussion panel for EW Fest on Saturday, Ansari discussed representation in Hollywood. According to UCLA's 2015 Hollywood Diversity report, Asians account for just 3 percent of scripted roles—among the lowest of any non-white ethnic group. What's more, roles for South Asians are often rife with stereotypes, a topic Ansari addressed during the panel.
While discussing one particular episode of Master of None, Ansari discusses Indian characters he saw growing up, Vulture reported:
You see a montage of every Indian character that I remember seeing growing up. And it’s just: Gas station, gas station, gas station, gas station, weird guy from Indiana Jones who eats brains, Zack Morris making some sort of curry joke. And it ends with Ashton Kutcher’s Popchips commercial where he dons brown-face and is a Bollywood producer named Raj.
Ansari also explained that the illusion of diversity can occasionally work against minorities, like in the case of racial quotas:
That’s a real thing that happens. When they cast these shows, they’re like, “We already have our minority guy or our minority girl.” There would never be two Indian people in one show. With Asian people, there can be one, but there can't be two. Black people, there can be two, but there can't be three because then it becomes a black show. Gay people, there can be two, women there can be two; but Asian people, Indian people, there can be one, but there can't be two.
The comedian said many people incorrectly assume that underrepresentation in Hollywood is no longer a problem because there are several notable characters of color. He went on to joke that Empire can't fix Hollywood's race problem.
Guess what? Every other show is still white people. White people have every other show. It’s still kind of unbalanced. I know there’s Empire. That’s there. But I think there were 10 black actors before Empire. It’s not like they just found the 10th black actor. ‘We can finally make Empire!’ It’s long overdue.
So far, reviews of Master of None are positive, with The Hollywood Reporter calling it "creative, funny and sweet." But if Ansari's Q&A revealed anything, it's that despite his new series, Hollywood still has a long way to go until there's true racial diversity and inclusion.
Master of None is set to premiere on Netflix on Nov. 6.
