David Schwimmer speaks out about lack of diversity on ‘Friends’

LOS ANGELES: US famous sitcom ‘Friends’ actor David Schwimmer has confessed that the sitcom could have done more in terms of representation.

During an interview, David Schwimmer who plays Ross Gellar on the show confessed that the lack of people of color on-screen felt wrong. “It felt wrong that there was not enough representation on the show,” he said.

“It really felt like Ross should date other people, women of all races,” Schwimmer added. The portrayal of the two most prominent non-white actors was done by Aisha Taylor as Charlie and Lauren Tom as Julie, two of Ross’s partners who appeared on the show briefly.

Speaking about her role and how the cast was ‘colorblind’, Taylor had earlier said, “The role was not written as a woman of color, and when I auditioned, I read against women of every ethnic background. I think why it worked was that they did not make it into a very special episode of Friends, where the friends suddenly confront issues of race or try to somehow counterbalance the previous eight seasons’ relative lack of diversity.” she said. “I was just a character on the show,” she added.

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Regarding the much-anticipated reunion, Schwimmer said later in the interview: “I can tell you that we are hoping to shoot in August, in mid-August, but honestly, we will do it when it’s safe. There has always been a hope that a component of that reunion show will have a live audience, which makes the whole thing really tricky.”

The unscripted special was originally going to be available at the launch of HBO Max in May 2020. However, the release was delayed due to production being halted because of the coronavirus.

Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer are the main case of the series.