Lisa Kudrow insists Friends creators had 'no business' writing about people of colour

Lisa Kudrow has insisted that the Friends creators had "no business" writing stories about people of colour given their backgrounds.

Speaking to The Daily Beast for an interview released on Wednesday, the Friends actress addressed the lack of diversity in the '90s sitcom. She explained that creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman wrote what they knew and wouldn't have been able to write accurate stories for characters from different backgrounds.

"Well, I feel like it was a show created by two people who went to Brandeis (private research university) and wrote about their lives after college," Lisa summarised of Friends. "And for shows especially, when it's going to be a comedy that's character-driven, you write what you know. They have no business writing stories about the experiences of being a person of colour."

The actress continued, "I think at that time, the big problem that I was seeing was, 'Where's the apprenticeship?'" referencing the lack of opportunity for people of colour to write for the show.

Lisa previously acknowledged in 2020 that the sitcom wouldn't have "an all-white cast" if it was made today but insisted that "it should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong."

Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times in July that she is so "embarrassed" over the lack of diversity on Friends that she's donating $4 million (£3.2 million) to create the Marta F. Kauffman ‘78 Professorship in African and African American Studies at Brandeis University.