David Schwimmer, who played Ross on the 90s sitcom, Friends, proposed a new idea recently that has since earned him some serious backlash. David addressed the show's controversial nature and the criticism it has received since it originally aired, which has included the fact that the six main characters and most of the secondary characters were all played by white actors. While David feels that the show was definitely groundbreaking in many ways, such as how it handled "casual sex, protected sex, gay marriage and relationships," he does acknowledge that it was behind on plenty of other social issues.
“Maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends,” David proposed. “But I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour. One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian-American woman, and later I dated an African-American woman. That was a very conscious push on my part.” While he likely thought his suggestion to reboot the show with a cast made up entirely of people of colour sounded like a good idea, many folks have pointed out that a "black Friends" already basically exists: it's called Living Single, and it aired over a year before Friends did. Living Single followed six twenty-something male and female characters played by Queen Latifah, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, Kim Fields, T.C. Carson, and John Henton, as they navigated the single life in 1990s NYC. Sound familiar?
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Many are even noting that Friends actually stole and white-washed the concept of Living Single, which David is clearly not aware of.
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