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Mindy Kaling said she improvised a kiss with guest actor Lee Pace during a scene on The Mindy Project, then threatened to fire anyone who told after two writers warned she could be sued. The accounts describe a warning—not a filed lawsuit or a career-ending consequence. The story comes from Kaling’s 2016 interview with Conan O’Brien, as quoted in later coverage.
What Mindy Kaling said happened
In the 2016 Conan O’Brien interview, Kaling recalled that Pace appeared in a scene as someone from her character’s past. She said the scene called for conversation, but she kissed him without it being in the script: “I improvised just kissing him in the scene, which was not in the script.” Parade’s account attributes that wording to Kaling’s interview.
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| 1 |
![The Mindy Project - The Complete Series [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41ItwealOHL._SL160_.jpg)
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The Mindy Project - The Complete Series [DVD] | $27.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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The Mindy Project: Season 3 | $7.98 | Buy on Amazon |
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The Mindy Project: The Complete Series | $60.98 | Buy on Amazon |
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MINDY PROJECT SSN4 (4 DVD) | $7.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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The Mindy Project: Season 2 | $7.47 | Buy on Amazon |
EasternEye identifies Pace’s character as Alexander Eakin, a former college sexual partner of Mindy Lahiri, and places the scene in Season 3. Kaling reportedly said Pace looked shocked. She recalled that two writers then warned her she could be sued, and that she answered, “Tell anyone and you’re fired.”
Was Kaling actually sued?
The reporting cited here does not say that anyone filed a lawsuit. It describes the writers warning Kaling that she could be sued after the unscripted kiss. Nor does it establish that she was pushed out of Hollywood or faced a career-ending legal consequence. “Almost got sued out of Hollywood” is an exaggerated framing of the anecdote, not a reported outcome.
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How the story differs from the Danny-Mindy plane kiss
This was a separate scene from the romantic storyline between Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano. A 2014 PaleyFest report in the Los Angeles Times covered their plane kiss and quoted Kaling discussing the story’s buildup. Chris Messina said that his character grabbing Mindy’s character during that kiss was improvised. That account concerns a different moment and does not describe the Lee Pace incident.
Why the anecdote drew criticism again
Parade reported that the 2016 clip resurfaced and attracted criticism in February 2023. Its coverage focused on Kaling’s account of kissing a coworker without consent and threatening to fire anyone who disclosed it. Parade said she had not responded to the renewed criticism as of its February 14, 2023 publication; that is a dated report, not a statement about her position today.
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What the available accounts can—and cannot—confirm
The quoted wording here is attributed to Kaling’s 2016 interview by Parade and EasternEye. The source set does not include an accessible recording or transcript of that segment, so these are reported quotations rather than independently verified transcript text. The New Yorker transcript in the cited coverage is from a different 2014 interview and is not the source of the kiss anecdote.
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- The Mindy Project (Complete Series 1-5) - 17-DVD Box Set
- The Mindy Project (Complete Series 1-5) - 17-DVD Box Set
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