Yahoo Finance Dr. Sanjay Gupta Is Adorably Bashful About Never Have I Ever Characters' Thirst for Him
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Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming to terms with his status as a sex symbol.
During an appearance on CNN Thursday, the renowned neurosurgeon reacted to being name-dropped in a scene from the recently released third season of Netflix's Never Have I Ever.
In the scene, Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) praises her grandmother's Golu, a festive display for the Hindu festival Navaratri, which features a "DIY Sanjay Gupta" figurine. "Hubba hubba," her grandmother Nirmala (Ranjita Chakravarty) says of Gupta, 52.
"So, where should we put Sanjay? If he's in the center, the Golu will be too sexy," Nirmala later remarks.
Gupta, who shares three daughters with wife Rebecca Olson, was visibly blushing at the clip.
"At this stage of life, I have three teenage girls, so I'm not sure when I'm being mocked or when I'm being flattered. I guess that just goes with the territory," he quipped.
"But I will say, just watching that clip as an Indian-American and seeing the mother with the deities set up, I never imagined in my life that I would see it represented that way in a Netflix show," Gupta added. "It's amazing for me just to see that. But mocked or flattered, I don't know. I'm not sure which."
RELATED VIDEO: Mindy Kaling and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan on The Importance of South Asian Representation in Never Have I Ever
Never Have I Ever creator Mindy Kaling shared the appearance Thursday on Instagram, clarifying that the show only name-dropped him out of love.
"Dear @drsanjaygupta, Let us be clear: we are all obsessed with you. You're the star of the golu, baby! With love, your @neverhaveiever fam. PS. We hope your daughters like the show!" she wrote in the caption.
"Haaaaa!!!! We stunt hard with @drsanjaygupta," commented actress Poorna Jagannathan, who plays Devi's mom Dr. Nalini Vishwakumar.
RELATED: Everything to Know About Never Have I Ever Star Anirudh Pisharody
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Kaling, 43, who took inspiration from her own adolescence for the teen comedy, told PEOPLE that there's a little bit of her in each character.
"One of the great things about a show like this, and creating it, is that every character, I think, represents a different side of my personality," Kaling said. "But I really do relate on a very, like, cellular level to Devi and her want — her desire of being loved and accepted and wanting a boyfriend. That all feels so — that really mirrors my childhood."
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Season 3 of Never Have I Ever is now streaming on Netflix.
