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Jun 16, 2021 1 min, 14 secs
representative announced last week that “Scooby-Doo” character Velma Dinkley would be reprised as East Asian in Mindy Kaling’s new adult HBO Max show, Twitter went into a frenzy with racist and Scooby traditionalist comments!

The slew of complaints that brought Velma to the trending page were followed by an equal number of fans defending Kaling’s decision, pointing out something the haters were missing about an East Asian version of the character: It’s already been done. .

Over the decades, 12 actresses have voiced animated Velma and four others have played her in live-action adaptations.

Gina Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican actress, voiced Velma in the 2020 animated movie “Scoob!” where the character also had darker skin.

Though some on Twitter made openly racist comments about Kaling’s new venture, some shared concerns that the portrayal of the nerdy Velma as an Asian American plays into the model minority myth that Asians are inherently hardworking and studious.

“I grew up with ‘Scooby-Doo’ and Velma, and for sure I could really see her as East Asian,” Yuen said.

A “Scooby-Doo” fan herself, Yuen said she hopes Kaling’s team doesn’t just slap an Asian face onto the character but instead develops a backstory that’s in line with her racial and cultural identity

While this recycling doesn’t fill the need for Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in Hollywood, Yuen related to Velma as a kid and said she thinks seeing her as an Asian American could be fun. 

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