Friends Creator Apologizes for Show’s Lack of Diversity, Donates $4 Million To Alma Mater Saying She’s Embarrassed, Blames ‘Systemic Racism’

The co-creator of the hit tv series Friends, Marta Kauffman, is apologizing for the lack of diversity in the sitcom nearly eighteen years after the show ended.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kauffman said, “I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.”

The famous show featured very few Black actors and it’s an issue Kauffman has wrestled with since 2020 when she says the murder of George Floyd was the moment her eyes were opened to “systemic racism.”

“It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror,” Kauffman admitted. It’s a topic that in the past has brought Kauffman to tears but this time she’s decided to enact change in the name of the show.

The writer donated $4 million dollars to her alma mater, Brandeis University in Boston, to help establish an “endowed professorship” within the school’s African and African American Studies department.

Kauffman said since making the donation, the response has been incredible. “I’ve gotten nothing but love. It’s been amazing. It surprised me to some extent, because I didn’t expect the news to go this wide. I’ve gotten a flood of emails and texts and posts that have been nothing but supportive. I’ve gotten a lot of ‘It’s about time.’ Not in a mean way. It’s just people acknowledging it was long overdue.”

She also committed to hiring more actors and writers of color on upcoming projects and said, “I want to know I will act differently from now on.”

This article has been updated to correct Kaufmann’s quote; she said “systemic racism,” not “systematic racism.”

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