"Friends" has long been criticized for its lack of diversity and now its co-creator, Marta Kauffman, has made a $4 million apology.
The television writer has pledged the full amount to her alma mater, Brandeis University, to fund an endowed chair in the school's African and African-American studies department, one of the oldest in the country.
"It took me a long time to begin to understand how I internalized systemic racism," Kauffman told Brandeis. "I've been working really hard to become an ally, an anti-racist. And this seemed to me to be a way that I could participate in the conversation from a white woman's perspective."
The Marta F. Kauffman '78 Professorship in African and African American Studies "will support a distinguished scholar with a concentration in the study of the peoples and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora," the Waltham, Massachusetts-based University announced.
It will also "assist the department to recruit more expert scholars and teachers, map long-term academic and research priorities and provide new opportunities for students to engage in interdisciplinary scholarship."
At the heart of "Friends," which ran from 1994 to 2004, is a group of six white, heterosexual friends living in New York. The show has been widely criticized for rarely featuring a character of color. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Kauffman admitted it was initially "difficult and frustrating" to hear what critics were saying. For years she felt as if "Friends" was being singled out but she has since changed her perspective.
"I've learned a lot in the last 20 years," Kauffman said. "Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It's painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know better 25 years ago."
Kauffman previously spoke about the backlash "Friends" has faced over the years, saying in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that at the time they did not even register its lack of diversity.
"There are many things that I could say if I only knew then what I know now," Kauffman said in 2021. "Back then, there was no conscious decision. We saw people of every race, religion, color. These were the six people we cast."
Kauffman admitted she would change "a hundred things" if given the opportunity.
"I've talked about it in the past, and I do have very strong feelings about my participation in a system, but it comes down to I didn't know what I didn't know," she said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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