Creator Of The Series Friends Is Ashamed Of The Lack Of Racial Diversity. "I Can't Look At Myself In The Mirror"

The co-creator of the mega-hit series Friends, Marta Kauffman, said she is ashamed of the show's "lack of racial diversity." She told The Los Angeles Times that at first she thought people were unfairly criticizing the sitcom for its lack of diversity, but "she's learned a lot over the last 20 years."

"Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy," Kauffman said. "It is painful for me to look at myself in the mirror. I'm ashamed that I didn't know 25 years ago what I know today."

The series, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, has recently been criticized for its lack of actors of color.

David Schwimmer, the show's Ross, told The Guardian in 2020 that he was "very aware of his privileged position as a straight white man" and that "Friends aired at a time when gay people were not as accepted by society".

The actor also said that he lobbied for more actors of color. “One of my first girlfriends on the show was Asian, and later I dated African-American women. I exerted conscious pressure in this direction.'

Kauffman, who co-created Friends with David Crano, told the LA Times that after the murder of George Floyd and subsequent complaints about the series, she gained a better understanding of systemic racism in the US.

It motivated her to pledge $4 million to her alma mater, Brandeis University in Boston, to establish an endowed professorship in the Department of African and African American Studies. She reportedly received a "flood of supportive messages" following the move.