Kaling Vs. Critics - Actress Defends Her "Elle" Cover In Letterman Interview

When Mindy Kaling’s very first Elle cover hit the web, the backlash was swift and surprising. Plenty of blogs, news websites and, of course, social network pundits put in their two cents about what seemed to be Elle’s different treatment of Kaling. While her fellow starlets – who are slimmer and white, as everyone pointed out – were pictured in full-body, colorful shots, Kaling got a black and white portrait, cropped to show just her face.

I'm on the @LateShow tonight! Dave and I talk Chris Christie and our favorite scandals and stuff

— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) January 10, 2014

That’s the story we know already. Since then the comedienne has defended her cover on Twitter and on Friday, she went on Letterman to talk about the whole debacle in depth.

"I was, for the first time in my career, on the cover of a fashion magazine, which is such an awesome, nice thing," she said on the "Late Show with David Letterman" Friday. "It felt great!"

Despite the possibly well-intentioned critics, Kaling felt the backlash was more insulting than it was defending her. “The implication of what they kept saying was: “Elle, you can’t put her big fat body on the magazine?”” Kaling joked.

Kaling looked snazzy in a bright yellow coat just before her Letterman interview.

She continued: “I just feel like they were kind of insulting me.”

As for the cover itself, the ever self-deprecating actress described it as: “It’s black and white. It looks like I died at my most beautiful.”

It looks like internet dwellers might have taken the quest for social justice a step too far this time. As for Kaling, she was concerned with a different cover detail altogether.

“I'm not wearing a top, did you notice?" she asked Letterman. "I'm wearing a blazer, but not a top.”

She looks even better on the cover, despite being technically topless.