Basically the episode starts with my character in 1990, as a little kid, watching TV.
Hes watchingShort Circuit 2.
He sees the Indian guy inShort Circuit 2[played by Fisher Stevens, who is white].
Credit: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly
Its one of my favorite things we did.
Should I do an accent?
Should I not do the accent?
Thats a thing that a lot of minority actors grapple with, Ansari said.
I once was asked to audition forTransformerswith Michael Bay.
And it was a role for a call center guy who does an accent.
And I was like, No, Im not doing it,' Ansari recalled.
Ravi was like, Ill do it!
And Ravi did it, and he probably made decent money being the call center guy.
Not that Ansari held it against his friend or anyone else in the industry who does an accent.
I understand, he said.
You have to work and some people dont think its a problem.
Every other show is still white people, he said.
White people have every other show.
Its still kind of unbalanced.
But I think there were 10 black actors beforeEmpire.
Its not like they just found the 10th black actor.
We can finally makeEmpire!
