Truth be told, I’ve never actually seen a full episode of The Office. I’ve only ever had it on in the background for white noise while I did something else. What I have gathered, however, is that the NBC sitcom was full of dry humor and social commentary… and, of course, it should be regarded as harmless. Luckily, actress Angela Kinsey was bold enough to make sure that line between comedy and tastelessness didn’t get blurry.
Angela Kinsey played the role of Angela Martin (trippy…) as a recurring character in the show’s first season in 2005 before being bumped up to a co-star for the rest of its eight seasons. After leaving the 3x Primetime Emmy Award winning series, Kinsey went on to co-star in other TV hits including New Girl, The Hotwives, Haters Back Off and Deliciousness. Always having her name in the limelight and now having a cult series to her resume is perhaps what lead her to the Soul Bloom podcast, hosted by Rainn Wilson.
Rainn Wilson also starred on The Office throughout the show’s entire episode list, and he’s enjoying a heavy career in Hollywood and philanthropy since The Office went to syndication. While reminiscing about the show with Wilson, Kinsey says:
I remember there was a particular storyline between Angela and Oscar where Angela was being super judgey. There was a joke at Oscar’s expense, and I went up to Greg Daniels (the show-runner). I think Angela Martin invoked Jesus in the moment, and I just was like ‘I don’t feel good about that. I don’t feel that’s what Jesus represented to me.’ He heard me and took the joke out.
Transcript courtesy of Pink News!
The episode in question is the season three premiere, ‘Gay Witch Hunt,’ where the storyline features the character of Oscar, played by Oscar Nunez (also trippy…), accidently being outed by another character in the office. After a series of strange events, the episode ends with an awkward smooch between Oscar and the character who outed him.
Season three of ‘The Office’ released in September 2006, which was really when the big push for gay rights – mostly gay marriage – started to gain momentum. Props to Angela Kinsey for being an ally back then, and to show runner Greg Daniels for treating a woman fairly in the workplace – a characteristic it seems like most people don’t have yet in 2024.
Source: Pink News