Lisa Kudrow claims Friends writers had ‘no business writing stories about being a person of colour’ amid show’s lack of diversity-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Lisa Kudrow addressed the beloved sit-com’s lack of diversity (Picture: Jesse Grant/Disney, Jon Ragel/NBCUniversal/Getty Images)

Lisa Kudrow has addressed the lack of diversity on Friends, saying that the writers had ‘no business writing stories about being a person of colour’ in a new interview.

The sitcom, which follows the lives of six white characters, has long been criticised for casting only two people of colour over 10 seasons, as well as for using un-PC stereotypes as punchlines, and a lack of LGBT characters and storylines.

Recently creator Marta Kauffman admitted she ‘didn’t do enough’ to promote diversity on the show, and pledged to donate $4million to an African and African American studies project at Brandeis university in Massachusetts, saying one of the reasons behind this was feeling ’embarrassed’ over not including a more diverse cast in the sit-com.

Marta co-created the show with David Crane in 1944, and it quickly became a beloved hit for millions of fans around the world.

When questioned about the diversity, or lack there of, on Friends, Lisa admitted that it’s a reflection of the writers’ lives.

The sitcom has long been criticised for casting only two people of colour over 10 seasons (Picture: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Marta Kauffman (middle) has expressed being embarrassed over the lack of diversity in the show she created alongside executive producers Kevin S. Bright and David Crane (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

The Phoebe Buffay actress told The Daily Beast: ‘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 colour.

The show ran for 10 seasons until 2004 (Picture: Jon Ragel/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Lisa starred as Pheobe Buffay (Picture: Brian D. McLaughlin/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty)

‘I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, “Where’s the apprenticeship?”’

Lisa starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, and all six reunited in 2021 for a reunion special.

The cast held a reunion special in 2021 (Picture: HBO Max)

Asked if there would ever be a spin-off film, like the Sex and the City franchise which followed up with two movies, Lisa said: ‘This was a multi-camera sitcom, and it had a different energy to it.

‘I think if there would ever be anything like that, if Marta and David ever signed off on anything like that, it would have to be a different cast at that age.

Lisa confirmed that if there were ever to be spin-off movies, it would ‘have to be a different cast’ (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty)

The Phoebe Buffay star previously insisted that Friends was actually ‘progressive’ for time (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty)

‘I think it would need to be more current—and more diverse representation is not a bad idea, you know?’

Lisa has previously insisted that Friends was actually ‘progressive’ for its time, and should be looked at as a ‘time capsule’.

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In an interview in 2020, she told ET Canada: ‘It was, at the time, progressive, there was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together.

‘We had surrogacy too. It should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what it did wrong.’

Friends is available to watch on Netflix.

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