Lisa Kudrow has opened up about the lack of diversity on Friends, stating that creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman had ‘no business’ writing stories for people of colour.
It comes after Kauffman announced her intention to fund the ‘Marta F Kauffman 78 Professorship in African and African American Studies’ at Brandeis University – where she attended college – after admitting she feels ‘embarrassed’ and ‘guilty’ about the show’s all-white main cast.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Kudrow – who played Phoebe Buffay – was asked how she feels about the lack of diversity on Friends. ‘Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college,’ she replied. ‘And for shows especially, when it’s going to be a comedy that’s character-driven, you write what you know. They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of colour. I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, “Where’s the apprenticeship?”’
The internet reaction to Kudrow’s comments has been mixed. While some agree that two white writers creating characters for non-white characters would be inauthentic – and has the potential to not only be misrepresentative but outright racist - others have suggested a very simple solution: Hire non-white writers.
Some have also pointed out how limiting the suggestion that character-driven writers should not write outside their own experiences is for the creative industry. Because while it’s important to reflect sensitive experiences accurately, writers should be capable of thoroughly researching this type of content (or at least bringing on consultants who can) so as to create realistic characters and storylines.
Kudrow had previously said that the show should be looked at ‘as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong’. When asked by The Sunday Times what would be different if the show was made now, she replied: ‘Oh, it’d be completely different… 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. Also, this show thought it was very progressive. There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together? We had surrogacy too. It was, at the time, progressive.’