British-Indian ‘Big Bang Theory’ Star Confused With Pakistani-American Actor In TV Critic’s Flub

A critic over at Salon nursed some pretty bad embarrassment over the weekend after she confused British-Indian actor Kunal Nayyar – otherwise known as Raj on The Big Bang Theory – with Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani.

How exactly did that happen? In a recent article about his show, TV critic Sonia Saraiya credited Nanjiani with being a regular on the CBS hit The Big Bang Theory – which of course, is far from correct. Kumail’s wife, Emily V. Gordon, was the first to discover the error, added Hollywood Reporter.

For his part, Nanjiani took the confusion in stride on Reddit, according to the Huffington Post.

“I just wish my bank would confuse me with Kunal Nayyar sometimes.”

The offending article was a review of Silicon Valley‘s second season, in which Saraiya casually mentioned that Nanjiani was “in fact a regular on The Big Bang Theory,” added the New York Daily News.

The story was edited and the customary apology issued (“we screwed up“) – on Twitter, USA Today reported. That didn’t go quite far enough and Kumail called out Salon for not doing it formally. Comedian Patton Oswalt got into the mix, too, tweeting “Dear @salon: Use the headline ‘Wrong Brown Guy’ in the thinkpiece. OWN IT. We all f*cked up. Not trying to be mean, seriously.”

The news site said afterward that they “deeply regret” the error, added Huffington Post. And the critic kept apologizing, too.

So what shows has Kumail appeared on? Broad City, Portlandia, Newsreaders, Bob’s Burgers, and Adventure Time.

And no, not The Big Bang Theory.

[Photo Courtesy Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]