Entertainment
Friends star David Schwimmer slammed over ‘despicable’ rant about Marcel the monkey
David Schwimmer wasn’t a fan of working with Marcel (Picture: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
David Schwimmer has been slammed by a animal handler who worked on Friends, after the actor ranted about filming with monkey Marcel.
The star, who played Ross Geller on the hugely popular sitcom, spoke disparagingly about the animal on the show during the recent reunion special.
David said: ‘Here is my problem: The monkey, obviously, was trained. It had to hit its mark and do its thing right at the perfect time.’
The 54-year-old added: ‘What inevitably began to happen was we would all have choreographed bits kind of timed out, and it would get messed up, because the monkey didn’t do its job right.
‘So we would have to reset, we’d have to go again, because the monkey didn’t get it right. It was time for Marcel to f**k off.’
Handler Mike Morris worked on Friends for eight episodes in the first season, all of which featured Marcel. He’s now hit out at David for his comments, calling him ‘despicable’ and ‘jealous’.
David recently returned with his co-stars for the Friends reunion (Picture: HBO Max Pop / Twitter)
Speaking to The Sun, Mike said that the monkey only had a problem with David and none of the other stars and didn’t hold back in his criticism.
‘I didn’t watch the reunion interview but I heard from others what Schwimmer said. I just don’t agree with it, if anything he threw off their timing if we want to be truthful,’ he said.
‘Schwimmer was fine with the monkeys for the first couple of episodes and happy to be there, but people would laugh at the monkey and I think he got jealous because it wasn’t him getting the laughs.’
Hitting out at the star, Mike added: ‘He seemed to get a little bitter about them being there after that, and of course the monkeys didn’t like working with him after he turned on them.’
Mike also revealed one of the capuchins used to film Marcel’s scenes, named Monkey, died of cancer last year.
‘Schwimmer was talking ill of the dead when he made those comments. I find it despicable for him to still be speaking ill of her,’ he said.
More: Friends (TV show)
Slamming his acting abilities, Mike added: ‘My colleague who also worked on the show says that people would laugh at the monkey and throw Schwimmer off. He’s not the kind of actor who can improvise. I think a good actor can play off an animal.’
Friends fans are still reeling from some of the revelations from the special – including the fact that David and Jennifer Aniston’s on-screen chemistry was replicated in real life.
Friends: The Reunion is available to stream on Sky and NOW.
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