Aziz Ansari on racism in Hollywood: 'There would never be 2 Indian people in 1 show'

(Image credit: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Variety)

When Aziz Ansari went to cast Indian-American actors to play his character's parents in Master of None, his upcoming Netflix series, he settled on, well, his actual parents. The comedian talked about the casting choice Saturday with a crowd at EW Fest as a means of highlighting a lack of diversity in Hollywood.

"It's not a demo with a ton of options. And that makes sense," Ansari said. They're not like, 'Oh, should we cast Ryan Gosling, or what about this old Indian guy?'"

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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. [Vulture]

A lack of opportunities for minority characters is what drove him to create his own show in the first place, Ansari explained. Head over to Vulture to read more of his criticism of Hollywood.

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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.