Old Drunk Dude Mistakes Mindy Kaling for Malala Yousafzai
At some point in their lives, most young women have to decide whether to become an internationally renowned women's rights activist or star in their own primetime sitcom. Unless they look sufficiently ethnic-y, that is, in which case they're free to take credit for both. That's the lesson Mindy Kaling learned earlier this month at the New Yorker Festival, where "a tipsy man in his 80s" mistook the comedian for Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.
The incident was recorded in full by reporter Jacob Bernstein, following Kaling for The New York Times:
"Congratulations on your Nobel Prize," he said, before expressing wonder at how well she had recovered from Taliban gunshots.
Ms. Kaling was speechless. "Did he really think I'm Malala?" she said when he was safely out of sight. "And that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?"
Hot tip for confused old drunk dudes: If you're not sure if the person in front of you is a 35-year-old actress or a 17-year-old assassination survivor, don't guess. Even hotter tip: Maybe go home and sleep it off, okay?
Kaling, however, took the episode in stride. "That's the best thing that's happened all night," she reportedly said.
