It took the death of George Floyd in 2020 for Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of the iconic 1994 NBC sitcom Friends, to realize that the series was not inclusive and unfairly placed on a pedestal.
“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,” Kauffman said. “That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct.”
The ongoing debate about Friends co-opting the premise of the 1993 television show Living Single, a predominately Black sitcom about a co-ed group of roommates and friends living single lives in New York, along with the appearances of people of color, such as Aisha Tyler, Gabrielle Union, and Craig Robinson, being limited to brief encounters with the lead actors, were the catalysts that drove the conversation about the lack of diversity on the syndicated series.
Living Single actors, such as Queen Latifah and TC Carson, have pointed out in the past that Friends was “inspired” by creator Yvette Lee Bowser’s Living Single. Although the two sitcoms shared the same premises and aesthetics, Friends received a better budget and the castmembers were paid exponentially more than the actors on Living Single. There were claims that even the craft services were better on Friends, which filmed on the same Warner Bros lot.
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Friends lasted 10 seasons into 2004 and went on to win six Primetime Emmys. The phenomenal success of the Kauffman and David Crane series is a sore subject for Millennials and Gen Zers who in 2022 recognize the subtleties of White privilege, cultural appropriation, microagressions, and exclusion.
Although Black people and people of color have historically dealt with racial injustice and the unfortunate demise of George Floyd was not the first time a Black man under duress at the hands of police went viral — the brutal beating of Rodney King in 1991 had the same resounding affect on the U.S. — Kauffman was more impacted by the social shakeup that would cause Hollywood and its corporate infrastructures to come under scrutiny.
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Before the social unrest that occurred after Floyd’s death, Kauffman admits that she didn’t initially understand why the casting choices were such a big deal among critics, who felt it unrealistic for only one race and ethnic background to exist on a show that is supposed to represent the greatly diverse NYC.
“I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years,” Kauffman stated in an interview. “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.”
Her epiphany inspired her to pledge $4 million towards an endowed professorship for the African and African American Studies department at Brandeis University, her alma mater. The department implements interdisciplinary programs in the study of people of African descent from multi-faceted angles. The endowment will support research initiatives and recruitment of more people of color in the field.
As far as whether Kauffman believes the donation is enough to compensate for the past, she believes there’s more work to do.
“Until in my next production I can do it right, it isn’t over,” Kauffman said. “I want to make sure from now on in every production I do that I am conscious in hiring people of color and actively pursue young writers of color. I want to know I will act differently from now on. And then I will feel unburdened.”
