A sitcom joke about Newark, N.J. has led to a dinner date between The Mindy Project star Mindy Kaling and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
In a recent episode on Hulu’s The Mindy Project, Kaling’s character Dr. Mindy Lahiri joked that Booker had shown up to her party just so he could get out of Newark.
“Cory Booker? I can’t believe he came. I guess anything to get out of Newark, huh?” Lahiri said in the episode.
Later, Booker tweeted to the actress, saying he heard her character had “dissed” Newark and posting a link to an article in Vogue magazine about why Newark is worth visiting.
“Ouch!” wrote the senator in an emoticon-filled message that included “(I still ❤️ U!)”.
Kaling was quick to reply with in equally light-hearted tone, assuring Booker that if her character “shades” it, “it means we know it’s cool.” She added that the ❤️ was mutual.
Booker then asked the actress on a dinner date in Newark, to which Kaling responded by asking for a train schedule.
According to Booker’s spokesman, the date hasn’t yet been scheduled.