Have you seen The One Where Friends Co-Creator Marta Kauffman Explains the Show’s Lack of Diversity?
More than 25 years since the hit sitcom’s debut, the show’s co-creator addressed the notable issue with the ’90s show while accepting some of the responsibility. “It was, to a certain extent, a product of the time period and of my own ignorance,” Kauffman said during a recent episode of CNN’s History of the Sitcom, per Entertainment Weekly. “There were Black shows and there were white shows. There weren’t a lot of shows that were interracial.”
As she elaborated, “I guess at the time I was thinking, ‘This is what I know. This is what I know.'”
It’s a sentiment she’s echoed in the past regarding the series’ predominantly white cast. “I wish I knew then what I know today,” Kauffman said during an ATX TV…from the Couch panel in June 2020.
“We’ve always encouraged people of diversity in our company,” she continued, per Deadline, “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.”
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