‘Friends’ Phoebe Buffay’s actor Lisa Kudrow on the show’s lack of diversity: the writers haven’t experienced it

Lisa Kudrow, who plays ‘Friends’ Phoebe Buffay, talks about the lack of people of color on ‘Friends’ in a recent interview.

In 2020, the actor has said that ‘Friends’ is severely lacking in diversity and that if the show ever makes it back to TV, it won’t be an all-white cast.

And while in a recent interview it still said the original episodes lacked diversity, it at least understood it to some extent.

She believes that ‘Friends’ creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman are under no obligation to tell the stories of people of color because they have their own backgrounds.

“Well, I think it’s a show that was created by two people who went to Brandeis and then wrote about their lives after college. And for a TV show, when it’s a character-driven comedy, you write what you know about yourself. They didn’t have that experience of being able to write out stories about people of color.”