What about FRIENDS does Marta Kauffman regret? Find out here.
by Ana Walia | Thu, 30 Jun 2022 16:58:23 GMT
Marta Kauffman talks about her regrets. Image Source: Parade 

Marta Kauffman talks about her regrets in regards to the successful sitcom 'FRIENDS' and how she is making up for it. 

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman revealed that in response to the criticism that the successful and well-liked sitcom "Friends," which aired from 1994 to 2004, received due to a lack of diversity in it, she has pledged $4 million to the African and African-American Studies department of Brandeis University.

Talking about the reason for her pledge and how she feels about the criticism, Marta Kauffman said that she has gained a lot of knowledge over the past 20 years and that facing the shame that comes with criticism is difficult. She claimed that looking in the mirror hurts and that she regrets not having improved 25 years earlier.

The co-creator of the sitcom that starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, who were in their late 20s and were living in New York, initially could not understand why fans had issues with the show or the lack of diversity, but now agrees with them and said that their comments and remarks about the show lacking diversity are fair.

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Black Lives Matter demonstrations and widespread indignation over the 2020 death of George Floyd by Minneapolis police served as a turning point for the author. In her interview, she said that it was only after what had occurred to George Floyd that she started to struggle with how she had unknowingly bought into systematic racism. She continued by saying that it was at that point that she started to consider her actions and the roles she had played and understood that she needed to change her direction.

Marta Kauffman has pledged $4 million to Brandeis University, her alma mater of hers, to promote the establishment of an endowed chair in the division of African and African-American Studies. She believes that with the help of her donation to the institution, the department will be able to hire more skilled teachers and students and open up new research opportunities. During the interview, she asserted that she is now acting following her comments.

Marta also had a meeting with President Ron Liebowitz, who thanked the show's co-creator and expressed how much the University and the Department of African and African American Studies appreciate this gesture. The study of African and African American culture, history, and politics will be preserved for future generations of Brandeis students, he said, making it clear that it is now more important than ever. It is the first endowed chair in the program. Marta's compassion and foresight are much appreciated.

Marta Kauffman said that she has said that she feels like she was finally able to make a difference in the conversation after accepting to pay a certain amount for the right cause, and she has to admit that it did not burden her but rather lifted her. She has received nothing but love and a deluge of encouraging and understanding emails, texts, and posts.

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The co-creator, Marta Kauffman, stated that she wants to ensure that in every production company she is a part of or works for, she will make a deliberate decision to hire people of color and actively pursue young writers of color. Now that she is more aware and knows how to be better at what she does, Kauffman said. Marta Kauffman, David Crane, and Kevin Bright, who also co-created the show, stated in a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that if the show had been produced today, the ensemble would not have been exclusively white because people would have known and they would have known. The program's makers said that even though a lot would change, to get the characters to act properly inside the historical period, a lot would change regarding the show as well as its ethnic composition.

Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright said that the casting for the show of all-white actors was not a plan they had intended to go ahead with. Kevin said that they did not move ahead with the show to have an all-white cast and said that the chemistry between the actors speaks for itself. Marta Kauffman also added that they all saw people of every race, religion, and color and they finalized six actors for the show so their intention was not to cast all-white actors but it was based on people and it was not literal.

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