‘Friends’ Creator Donates $4 Million Due to ‘Guilt’ Over Show’s Zero Diversity
Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of Friends, is donating $4 million to create the Marta F. Kauffman ‘78 Professorship in African and African American Studies at Brandeis University due to her “guilt” over the hit NBC sitcom’s lack of diversity.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Kauffman said, “I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years. 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.”
Friends, whose six main characters were white, rarely featured actors of color in significant roles across its 10 seasons, despite being set in the diverse melting pot that is New York City. Aisha Tyler, the most prominent actor of color to star in the series, only appeared in nine episodes as paleontology professor Charlie.
Kauffman told the LA Times that, at first, it was “difficult and frustrating” accepting the criticism directed at the show’s diversity problems. However, after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, she became more critical of herself and the show.
“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,” the Emmy-winning writer explained. “That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct.”
Kauffman is now launching the African and African American studies program that, according to the LA Times, aims to “support a distinguished scholar with a concentration in the study of the peoples and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora.”
“I’ve gotten nothing but love,” Kauffman said in regards to the feedback she’s received since the announcement. “It’s been amazing. It surprised me to some extent because I didn’t expect the news to go this wide. I’ve gotten a flood of emails and texts and posts that have been nothing but supportive. I’ve gotten a lot of ‘It’s about time.’ Not in a mean way. It’s just people acknowledging it was long overdue.”
Friends, Complete Series, Streaming, HBO Max
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If you're going to criticize Friends for its lack of diversity, you should also criticize shows like Living Single and Blackish for their lack of diversity. Or rather maybe we should all just recognize that people generally socialize with people like them. Most people's friend groups are pretty homogenous.
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Black ish actually is diverse. Almost everyone Anthony Anderson worked with was white. And they had white neighbors. But, I'm sure you've never watched the show to do that. And when shows like Friends and Seinfeld are targeted it's more about them being in one of the most diverse states in the world but barely ever reflecting that. Or it's not about those shows but the entire tv landscape that followed suit for so so many shows.
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I was born and raised in Chicago, the city not the burbs. Went all through grammar, high school and Northwestern Uni and never had a person of color in my circle. Had Asian, Jewish, and native American friends but not any black ones. They just never came to our hangouts, joined our clubs etc.
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Not every square foot of this country has to be consistent with the national pie chart. It's better to not include, than to look like it's forced, and be faced with "oh you only did that because you thought you HAD to --besides none of us black people would ever act like that.
(Now, if they could have done it properly, and done it well, then go ahead.)
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Until black culture evolves, no amount of guilt or reparations will bridge the divide. 70% of black children grow up in fatherless homes. 35% of children in foster care are black. Black women with $200 weaves and $100 acrylic nails check out their groceries with food stamps. Knowledgeable black leaders have pointed this out repeatedly to no avail.
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Cases in point. how can Eddie Murphy/Nick Cannon parent 10/8 kids with 5/5 baby mamas? Google Christian Walker's [Herschel's son] rants on absentee fathers, including finding out that he found out he has two half brothers and a half sister he didn't know about.
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I guess it's her money and she can do as she pleases. That being said, IMO it's not something to feel guilty over and the fact that she's announcing it smells like a publicity grab. Real philanthropists are more subtle than that.
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Forced diversity is misguided in universities and employment. All should be based on merit alone. In entertainment diversity to serve a political agenda has the reverse effect. No matter how good an actor Idris Elba is, James Bond is white. This white guilt gesture by MK is pathetic as is the idea of the government making reparations to descendants of slaves. My ancestors didn't come to America until 30 years after the Civil War, so I shouldn't need to pay into that. What would it cost the gov. to sort out who are true descendants of slaves or antebellum residents. This whole thing is preposterous. The Jewish people were enslaved for a thousand years, they got over it.
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Ads are the worst. Those extremely close up face shots of usually unattractive POCs makes me switch channels and not support whatever product they're pushing.
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I agree. Some of those ads are so in your face that they come across as aggressive and mean spirited or bullying. Like "take that".
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Sorry, unattractive POC faces? What do you mean by that?
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I'm just guessing here, don't know what Laine meant. Most of the time advertisers have choosen attractive, appealing actors to sell their products. Lately there have been a lot of ads that open with a very tight close up of a POC who is very obese, or has bad teeth, scruffy face hair, or looks mean or angry. There's an awful lot of attitude on display in many. That isn't helping to bridge the gap. The 75% of America who aren't black are not going to be persuaded by this approach.
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Lack of diversity is one of the reasons that Friends, NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, Cheers, Seinfeld, etc. had such long and successful runs. Forced quotas don't work in entertainment, Notice that when they try to reboot an old hit but change the ethnicity, it tanks pretty quickly. Pretending that 13% of the population is ubiquitous when casting ads or programming isn't fooling anyone and is in fact having a negative effect.
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Reminds me of that recent Whoopie ad where she's sitting outside and wearing round lens brown tinted glasses. She looks scary enough to frighten children.
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Where's Chandler?
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Maybe he took the photo?
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