'Friends' co-creator says she wishes she made 'different' diversity decisions
"Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman recently reflected on some of the decisions she made earlier in her career pertaining to diversity.
The famous writer and producer, who also created "Grace and Frankie," admitted she would've made some changes.
"Friends" has long been criticized for its lack of diversity. Aisha Tyler, the only black actress to have a recurring role on the show, didn't appear until season nine.
"I wish I knew then what I knew today, I would have made very different decisions," Kauffman said during a panel for the virtual ATX Television Festival on Sunday. "We’ve always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn’t do enough."
"Now all I can think about is what can I do, what can I do differently. How can I run my show in a new way? That’s something I wish I knew when I started showrunning but all the way up through last year," she added.
Her admission garnered mixed reactions across social media.
"She didn't know that Manhattan had black people in the 90s or what?" one user wrote on Twitter.
Another user responded, "Ahhh Friends. Being a native New Yorker, I always found it strange that this group of people never bumped into any POC and had no Black "friends". Like, this is New York."
Many others pointed out on social media that they feel "Friends" was inspired by another famous '90s sitcom, "Living Single," which featured six black friends living in New York and was released a year before "Friends."
A number of the show's primary cast members have also recently addressed the diversity issue in the famous series.
In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, David Schwimmer said he was "well aware of the lack of diversity" and he "campaigned for years to have Ross date women of color."
"One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian American woman, and later I dated African American women," he told the outlet. "That was a very conscious push on my part."
Lisa Kudrow also recently told The Sunday Times that she feels the show would be "completely different" if it took place now.
"It would not be an all-white cast, for sure ... I’m not sure what else, but, to me, it should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong," she said.
