Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms in television history, and its popularity has endured even among young people who weren't yet born when the show aired thanks to streaming.
But as beloved as the show has continued to be, one criticism has continued to plague it--the show's shocking lack of diversity, which is noticeably pronounced even by 1990s standards.
Despite taking place in New York City, one of the most diverse cities on Earth, people of color were nearly invisible, barely appearing at all during the show's 10-year run, even among its extras.
One of the show's co-creators, Marta Kauffman, is attempting to offset that legacy. Kauffman announced that she will be making a multi-million dollar donation to fund the African American Studies department at her alma mater, a move people are cheering.
\u201c\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot in the last 20 years,\u201d "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman said. \u201cAdmitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It\u2019s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I\u2019m embarrassed that I didn\u2019t know better 25 years ago." https://t.co/kQh3NxQhFA\u201d— Los Angeles Times (@Los Angeles Times) 1656538932
Kauffman, who co-created and served as showrunner on the show along with her collaborator David Crane, has previously chalked the issue up to the fact that in the show's mid-90s and early-2000s tenure, diversity and inclusion just weren't really on most white people's radar.
In CNN's History of the Sitcom last year, of Friends' lack of diversity Kauffamn said:
"It was, to a certain extent, a product of the time period and of my own ignorance."
"There were Black shows and there were white shows. There weren't a lot of shows that were interracial."
While that's certainly true of 90s television, times have changed. And in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kauffman said the 2020 murder of George Floyd caused her to rethink things after it expanded her understanding of structural racism.
She told the Times:
"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."
"That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct."
That course correction comes in the form of a $4 million donation to the African American Studies program at her alma mater Brandeis University, one of the nation's oldest such departments in the country.
It's a step forward in off-setting the show's nearly total lack of non-white characters, a feature of the show Kauffman says she is now "embarrassed" by. She told the Times:
"I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years... I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago."
On Twitter, many applauded Kauffman's effort.
\u201c@latimes I think this is great and makes watching friends better\u201d— Los Angeles Times (@Los Angeles Times) 1656538932
\u201c@DiscussingFilm Unfortunately it was the popular thing at thw time and no one thought of these things back then. Identify past mistakes and strive to do better.\u201d— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) 1656630559
\u201c@TalkTV It always struck me as odd, given they were supposed to be in downtown New York......!!!!\u201d— TalkTV (@TalkTV) 1656585549
\u201c@Variety beautiful, important and fantastic attitude \u2764\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f that\u2019s it!\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1656683936
\u201c@CNN I mean that\u2019s fair. I feel like this is also easier to see/say now vs when the show aired. Nothing wrong with seeing now and admitting you\u2019d do it different. You\u2019ve learned and grown. You don\u2019t have to be emberrased.\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1656682608
Others felt Kauffman's move was too little, too late.
\u201c@PopCrave No offense it\u2019s too little too late. Why is it 25 years later you have learned your mistakes when you should have seen it while making it.\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1656625672
\u201c@CNN So give the millions you continue to make from that show to diverse communities if you are so embarrassed.\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1656682608
\u201c@PopCrave 4 mill ain\u2019t enough for me\u2026i need every penny that show has ever made\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1656625672
Kauffman's donation will go towards expanding Brandeis' African-American studies department and will include a new professorship and a role for a distinguished scholar, moves university officials said will make Brandeis a national leader in the field.
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