Lisa Kudrow says Friends creators had ‘no business writing stories about people of colour’ amid sitcom’s diversity criticism

Lisa Kudrow has addressed the criticism that the iconic sitcom Friends has faced about its lack of diversity during its ten-year run.

The 59-year-old, who starred as goofy and loveable Phoebe Buffay on the NBC series, first addressed the issue back in 2020 when she acknowledged that if the show were produced in today’s world, “it would not be an all-white cast”.

And in a new interview, the actress reflected on the casting decisions for the show, stating that the creators of the show, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, were only formulating the show from their own experiences.

“Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis and wrote about their lives after college,” Lisa Kudrow told The Daily Beast. “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. I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, “Where’s the apprenticeship?”‘.

Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman now understands inclusivity’s importance in her future projects.  

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times earlier this year, she said: “I want to make sure from now on in every production I do that I am conscious in hiring people of colour and actively pursue young writers of colour. I want to know I will act differently from now on. And then I will feel unburdened.”

She also admitted last month to being so “embarrassed” and “guilty” over the lack of diversity in Friends that she donated $4 million to create the Marta F. Kauffman ’78 Professorship in African and African American Studies at Brandeis University.