Throughout the years, Friends has received criticism for its lack of diversity during its ten seasons. The series, which featured six caucasian friends in New York, had very few minority characters outside of the ones played by Lauren Tom and Aisha Tyler. And co-creator Marta Kauffman recently spoke out about she regrets that.
Per Deadline, at the recent 2020 ATX TV Festival, Kauffman said, “I wish I knew then what I knew today, I would have made very different decisions.”
She added, “We’ve always encouraged people of diversity in our company, 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.”
Marta Kauffman is also the co-creator of Netflix’s Grace & Frankie.
