The one where the writer gives away $4million
Creator’s ‘guilt’ over all-white Friends
FRIENDS may have covered a lot of ground and issues during its long run on our screens.
But the popular sitcom, with its all-white cast, was never a diverse affair.
And now the creator of the show has spoken of her ‘guilt’ and ‘embarrassment’ about the show’s lack of black characters.
In recompense, Marta Kauffman has pledged $ 4million (£3.3million) to establish a professorship at the African American Studies department of her old university.
Miss Kauffman, 65, said it had become ‘painful’ to look herself in the mirror over the lack of diversity in Friends, which ended in 2004 but remains a fixture on TV schedules.
The writer and producer, who is thought to be worth around £330million, said the murder of George Floyd in 2020 – and the rise of the Black Lives Matter
‘Embarrassed I didn’t know better’
movement – had prompted a period of reflection for her.
She said: ‘Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.
‘It was after what happened to George Floyd that I began to wrestle with my having bought into systemic racism in ways I was never aware of.’
Miss Kauffman, also behind Netflix series Grace and Frankie, said the pledge to Brandeis University in Boston – which she went to in the 1970s – had ‘lifted’ her, but didn’t ‘unburden’ her.
She said she hoped the ‘truly emotional’ donation would allow to her have a ‘connection with the black community I didn’t have... because of Friends.’
Friends starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt Le Blanc and Matthew Perry as six friends sharing apartments in New York.
Rumbling allegations of racism came to a head during the highly anticipated reunion in 2020, with fans saying it would have been an ideal time to address the charges. Schwimmer, who played Ross, said he was ‘well aware of the lack of diversity’ but added: ‘You have to look at it from the point of view of what the show was trying to do at the time.’
And Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, said the show ‘should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong’. The $4million pledge will establish the Marta F. Kauffman ‘78 Professorship at Brandeis, a role researching the cultures of Africa and the African diaspora.
But Miss Kauffman wants to do more, saying: ‘I want to make sure from now on in every production I do that I am conscious in hiring people of colour.’