‘Friends’ Creator Donates $4 Million Due to ‘Guilt’ and Embarrassment Over Show’s Zero Diversity
"Friends" creator Marta Kauffman is so "embarrassed" by and feels such "guilt" over the lack of diversity on her show.
variety.com
‘Friends’ Creator Donates $4 Million Due to ‘Guilt’ and Embarrassment Over Show’s Zero Diversity
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variety.com
4 million doesn't seem like much TBH. But maybe I'm wrong? From what I'm reading though, Kauffman seems genuine in her attempts and reflection. She's not really making any excuses.‘Friends’ Creator Donates $4 Million Due to ‘Guilt’ and Embarrassment Over Show’s Zero Diversity
"Friends" creator Marta Kauffman is so "embarrassed" by and feels such "guilt" over the lack of diversity on her show.
Yeah that seemed odd. Like "let's honor black people….with this program named after a white woman."
Yeah I mean, good for her donating the money. But these kind of stories are always framed around their sense of self-realization and the "sacrifice" it takes to be more inclusive, rather than letting the focus be on the cause she's feeling guilt about.
It's less about "I want to do more for black people" and more "I want to make sure the world remembers that I did something for black people"
Good. How many other sitcom creators reflect on the shit they put out there, and the things they perpetuate? I'm not going to critique.
Now come out and let's talk about the transphobic stuff with Chandler's parents. That's the real elephant in the room.
Now come out and let's talk about the transphobic stuff with Chandler's parents. That's the real elephant in the room.
Seinfeld's pretty white too, but they did tackle race more AND the show was about how awful those people were vs. Friends being an idealized white version of NYC
Rich people always know how to make you roll your eyes even when they're doing a good thing
Yes. Seinfeld had side and background characters that were people of color and had them involved in stories. It was also pretty white but people find it to be closer to New York than Friends which had very few people of color during the entire run even as people that the leads interacted with or that the show had even in the background.
She's doing a good thing, but this all reeks of wanting to make it about herself and is the absolute hokey-ist of white guilt I have ever seen from a rich white person in a hot minute.
Did it really take her until George Floyd being murdered by a cop to notice how fucking white Friends was?
Did it really take her until George Floyd being murdered by a cop to notice how fucking white Friends was?
I never counted but I'm pretty sure in the episode where Brad Pitt guest stars and they talk about how his character and Ross made up a rumor about Rachel and it has some transphobic lines in it. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken. Its been a very long time since I've seen the episode so maybe I'm being harder on it in my memory than it really is. Hopefully I am mistaken.
I don't know what the downside is to reflecting on your own engagement in existing in a white-first system that you propagated by making white-first television, then making a financial contribution using money you got from the privilege of being a white person in that white-first industry towards a better cause.
(The wing getting named after her is fucking cringe though realtalk)
I'm guessing the issue here is more making a media story out of a rich white person making a financial contribution as opposed to the causes she's advocating. I don't think a person in a majority making a statement like "I wish I did better" is praiseworthy so much as I think it's good to normalize reflecting on past engagement with privilege in a majority.
(The wing getting named after her is fucking cringe though realtalk)
I'm guessing the issue here is more making a media story out of a rich white person making a financial contribution as opposed to the causes she's advocating. I don't think a person in a majority making a statement like "I wish I did better" is praiseworthy so much as I think it's good to normalize reflecting on past engagement with privilege in a majority.
Doesn't help that Friends stole its premise from Living Single
Seems like a good deed despite it all, but yeah, can't get much more whiter than this. Better than nothing, I guess.
lmaoIt's giving this energy
Didn't Chandler always cite his trans mother as being a negative often?
Where's Queen Latifah's check Kauffman?
I'm okay with Friends taking the heat since they stole the whole idea for the show from a Black sitcom.
I mean
Yup. Again having a show based in NYC with lily white cast outside of 'very special episodes' is bad but sadly par on course for a shitload of 90's comedies. Its just the NYC part that made it more egregious.
But man, they literally copy/pasted a popular all black show and managed to keep black folks off the show like it was Jim Crow, I almost admire the effort, lol. Must be a pilot script/treatment out there with "But No Blacks!" written at the top in comic sans.
Four whole million!!! We made it!
Yup. Again having a show based in NYC with lily white cast outside of 'very special episodes' is bad but sadly par on course for a shitload of 90's comedies. Its just the NYC part that made it more egregious.
But man, they literally copy/pasted a popular all black show and managed to keep black folks off the show like it was Jim Crow, I almost admire the effort, lol. Must be a pilot script/treatment out there with "But No Blacks!" written at the top in comic sans.
Most surround Kathleen Turner playing a character named Helena Handbasket who fathered Chandler pre-transition. The character existed to be the butt of jokes, again and again.
Tbh I feel like A man duh is a good joke but could've been delivered better obviously. But it was the 90s.
Fucking unreal to actually admit that it took 15 years of ignoring criticism before realizing the show had a diversity problem
The scholarship is whatever, but admitting she bought into systemic racism is nice to see. I know a lot of white people that loved this show who are completely blind to their own internalized racism and if this reaches even a few similar people it will be something.
Look, she's been richer than god for more than two decades so of course she's going to be completely out of touch with anything resembling the reality us normies live in. Given that, I'll give her credit for recognizing the white elephant for what it is and doing something positive with her wealth. It's more than I'd normally expect from someone in her position, as sad as that may be.
That's something that legit bothered me about how so many shows like the Simpsons, Family Guy, etc...suddenly got a stick in their ass. Like, you're telling me it took until JUST NOW? to realize you were a white guy voicing a black guy? I'm in the camp where as voice actors, it doesn't really matter. But I refuse to believe they did it for any reason outside of trying to appease someone who wasn't asking for it in the first place.
It's not like she wrote the article. That seems more like an issue with how the media reports on these things than anything she did.
Chandler's dad (or mom - sorry, I'm genuinely not sure how the character identified) was the butt of a lot of transphobic jokes. Way more than whatever episode or two Brad Pitt was in.
If that's how she feels, she could probably do a lot of good by using her clout to open doors for diverse creators in film and television.
And if I remember correctly, Schwimmer claims he was pushing for years to have more diversity on the show, so the creators can't play the ignorance card too much.
Yeah, you are absolutely right. The Brad Pitt episode is the one that I remembered first and completely forgot about Chandler's father and so the transphobic jokes were actually happening several times over several seasons.
Its more important now and moving forward to be more diverse with current/furniture projects. Apologizing for something that's long gone is kind of moot because you can't change it.
It's great, but yeah... still feels more like a, "I did this good thing, so I deserve to be known for doing this good thing." Sorta undercuts the selfless act, but if it were to increase donations from others to such causes, that's really great. Good to recognize the diversity issue though.
Systemic issues shouldn't need to be resolved by monetary donations. Fuck philanthropy.
Systemic issues shouldn't need to be resolved by monetary donations. Fuck philanthropy.
The transphobia with Chandler's dad was probably only topped with the fatphobia of Monica in terms of frequency of jokes.
I don't get this sentiment. Is everyone in similar time frames giving millions of dollars for something like this? If so I missed it. Is there a certain threshold of money that doesn't get an eh and if so what is it?
This just seems negative for the sake of being negative. The named after herself criticism is absolutely valid. The amount of time to do something is valid. The only 1% of her net worth I don't understand at all.