‘Friends’ Star Claims The Show Had ‘No Business’ Telling Stories About People Of Color

“Friends” star Lisa Kudrow explained that the reason the show rarely featured minority actors was because the white creators had “no business” writing about people of color. 

In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Kudrow, 59, said that series creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane would not have been able to accurately depict the “experiences” of minorities on screen. 

When asked about the “lack of diversity on the show,” Kudrow responded, “Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college.”

“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 color,” she continued. “I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, “Where’s the apprenticeship?”

The interviewer brought up Kauffman’s recent $4 million pledge to support African American studies at her alma mater Brandeis University. 

“It took me a long time to begin to understand how I internalized systemic racism,” Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times in July. “I’ve been working really hard to become an ally, an anti-racist. And this seemed to me to be a way that I could participate in the conversation from a white woman’s perspective.”

During her interview, Kudrow also discussed her sketch “Death to 2020” in which she portrayed a conservative pundit that complained about “being silenced.”

“And also, by the way: It’s every side. Like, sorry. It’s politics. There’s no virtue there,” she remarked. “So at that moment, we were seeing people that were outrageously—and very poorly—conning America. It’s like, if you’re gonna con America, at least be good at it!”

“The Comeback” star insisted that she doesn’t like “talking politics,” because she doesn’t believe any good “can come of it.” 

“I also think it’s important to understand that there’s maybe half the country that feels a certain way, and there’s a lot of our country that does watch them and what they say makes sense to them. And then there’s the other half that’s listening to the other side,” Kudrow concluded. “There’s no virtue in politics, is what I’m saying. But you’ve gotta pay attention.”

Marie Finn