One of the co-creators of the TV show Friends, perhaps the most monumentally successful worldwide global smash hit production ever, has apologised for the characters being white and pledged to give millions of dollars to black education.
Marta Kauffman told the LA Times that she finds it “painful” that all the main characters on the show were not ‘diverse’ enough for modern standards and that “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy.”
The writer continued, “What makes this truly emotional for me is that I want this connection I didn’t have. I deeply, deeply want this connection with the black community that I didn’t have. Because of ‘Friends,’ I never attained that.”
“I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago,” Kauffman continued, adding that the death of George Floyd in 2020 prompted her to realise that she had “internalized systemic racism,” and “participated” in it, and that she “needed to course-correct.”
Now, to correct her white guilt, Kauffman says she will give $4 million to fund an endowed chair in Brandeis University’s African and African American studies department.
Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman has apologised for the lack of black actors in her sitcom.
She has pledged $4 million to Brandeis University in Boston to support African and African American studies.
“I’ve been working really hard to become an ally, an anti-racist.” pic.twitter.com/rGb4pHxZOr
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) June 30, 2022
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