"Did he really think I'm Malala, and that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?"
Age and alcohol can be a pretty potent combination. When you think about it, the most uninhibited category of the population isn't the youth (they are way too self-conscious), but the retired, Just-Tellin-It-Like-It-Is dudes who've had a few too many on a weekday.
Sometimes these tipsy men mean well. They just really want to tell you their feels without the burden of social filters.
Like last week, for example, when some older inebriated gentleman attempted to strike up a conversation with Mindy Kaling at the after party for the New Yorker Festival.
Held at the Top of the Standard, (AKA the Boom Boom Room), the guest list included the likes of Malcom Gladwell and Zadie Smith.
According to the social pages of the New York Times, "As [Kaling] stood by the banquettes, a tipsy man in his 80s cornered her and showered her with compliments, apparently mistaking her for Malala Yousafzai. "Congratulations on your Nobel Prize," he said, before expressing wonder at how well she had recovered from Taliban gunshots."
Of course, Mindy being Mindy, she kept it classy and hilarious all the way.
When said old man was out of earshot, she simply said: "Did he really think I'm Malala? And that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?" Later adding that it was "the best thing that happened" to her all night.
Sometimes, that's the thing with casual racism. If you can't beat it, just be sure to laugh at it.
Sources: New York Times, Vulture
