Outrage as Friends Reunion includes Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and James Cordon but no black people

Why does anybody want this? Friends was awful. I guess people watched it because there were less options.

Nobody watched the original show because it had a diverse cast. Why expect one now?

James Corden, as if there weren't enough reasons to not watch this.

#JamesCordenMakesEverythingWorse

[quote]Mr Corden, 42, is among the guest stars, as is David Beckham and the model Cara Delevingne.

Puke.

It’s already receiving backlash.

G-D, ain’t nothing sacred?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Is this a reunion for the actors - or a re-boot with the 6 playing their old parts? Ewwww....either way.

The original Friends DID have black characters. Like this sassy furniture saleswoman:

don't people have bigger fish to fry?

There was also Chandler's humorless black boss.

Forget race these are just bizarre first star choices.

Is this just a one-off special? I don’t get it.

White and black people frequently do not mix socially, even in melting pot NYC. It’s not unrealistic for these characters to not have any close black friends, with the exception of the one girlfriend.

What’s utterly unrealistic is how every commercial for EVERYTHING now features an interracial couple, as if it’s required by the FEC. I’m starting to think it actually is.

It's Jessica Fletcher's revenge.

I guess Aisha Tyler was busy.

R1 str8 people love this trash show for some reason

How many white people were on Good Times?

BECAUSE WE NEED TO BE IN EVERYTHING!!!!!!! AND YOU DON'T!!!!!!!!

BECAUSE WE'RE SPECIAL BECAUSE YOU TREATED US LIKE WE WEREN'T SPECIAL!!!!! AND YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL!!!!!!

The original show wasn’t exactly a melting pot of culture. Why must this be?

R19 This is true. It was melting pot of shit.

Maybe Roxane Gay would be willing to park her fat ass on the couch in Central Perk.

She doesn’t need to speak. Resting bitch face is enough.

I wouldn’t expect Living Single to hold a reunion with white guests.

More shit from young white women, complaining about lack of black representation. Fuck them. I have never watched one episode of Friends, but I will watch this show.

It seems like every show has to check off their token boxes and make sure they have at least one or more of everything.

[quote]Is this a reunion for the actors - or a re-boot with the 6 playing their old parts? Ewwww....either way.

They're playing roles similar to what they played on the show. It's not exactly a reunion but it's also not a reunion. It's one of those weird conceptualized things from what they were explaining.

[quote]White and black people frequently do not mix socially, even in melting pot NYC. It’s not unrealistic for these characters to not have any close black friends, with the exception of the one girlfriend.

The original show barely even had black extras. Just stop. It was bad. Even the show's producers acknowledged it was bad years before everyone was aware of and looking for it.

The show was incredibly homophobic at times but people just seem to gloss over that too.

Finally speak for yourself. There's always one black gay in a group of white gays. Or one latino gay. They drop in from time to time. Sometimes there are people at work. Sometimes people stay in touch with people they went to college with and they show up.

At least Ross and Monica had a single black coworker each that popped up once.

[quote]I wouldn’t expect Living Single to hold a reunion with white guests.

Did you even watch the show?

While they were a group of black girls that lived in pre-gentrification Prospect Heights in the 90s and the two leads worked at a black magazine ...

When they left the apartment you'd see they had White, Asian and Latino people that lived in their neighborhood, that they worked with, that they ran into and did business with. The background actors were much more diverse than Friends ever was. That is what people were expecting to see when they turned on Friends.

R25 I did/do watch Living Single, but honestly I never pay attention to background actors. I just focus on the main cast when watching something.

Who’s ‘Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper’? Anyone? I loved that show. Black people, white people too and an episode with Holly Robinson Peete dressed up as a geisha at a Japanese restaurant. Very cultural.

Why Lady Gaga? Ugh. I'll probably watch it but I am NOT a Gaga fan in the least.

BTS , Malala are invited. Aren’t they POC?

"Get Viola on speed dial!"

Wasn't Wayne Brady available?!?!?!

Why are there no trans Sri Lankan people?!?!?

Update from HBO:

"In this very special episode, Rachel will be played by Rachel Dolezal."

R28? I DO like Lady Gaga and I want to know why she's there? Ditto Beiber?

Couldn't care less about lack of black representation. Friends wasn't a Norman Lear show. It had zero social justice aspects to it.

Plus, has anybody considered that no black celeb wanted to be a part of this?

wtf, Malala is a guest? That's so strange. Is Greta going to be there too?

Because, R29, for the woke mob, the term diversity only means Black people. And trans.

Why do you think this show was so popular in the first place? And Seinfeld. Yeah, that's right. Stop screwing everything up.

"Black people, white people too and an episode with Holly Robinson Peete dressed up as a geisha at a Japanese restaurant. Very cultural."

Cultural appropriation you mean. It goes both ways.

R25 Prospect heights started gentrification in the late 80s, honey.

Who, other than SJWs really cares about black representation on a sitcom reunion? Why does anyone care about what some "professional offended" person posts on social media?

Was it South Park that got push back for not having any black kids so Matt and Trey added one and named him Token?

What does Justin Bieber and bts have to do with friends. Let's forget about no black people appearing in this reunion. What does much younger have to do with friends. I understand Reese Witherspoon appearing since she played Rachel sister.

Malala is there at the Reunion because she couldn't watch FRIENDS as a child in her cave in the Khyber Pass. There was no electricity. She was literally powerless then.

But now she has power. And she will be sporting a "Rachel" under her burka.

No Mary Grandin? Alok Vaid-Menon?

This Reunion has everything!

Eldergays inexplicably hate "Friends" with a passion. Ditto Seinfeld, The Office and Parks and Rec

Part of it is likely the humor is more hetero, and the women less likely to be someone they'd want to emulate/stand-ins for gay men they've known, unlike shows like Golden Girls and Facts of Life.

Part of it is that these shows introduced a new group of young adults who were in high school in the 80s, rather than navigating the adult world, and their presence reminded Eldergays that they were getting old and were not the fresh young things anymore.

No blacks? WOW! Just for that, I won’t watch. 😂😂

I thought the "reunion" was just going to be a group interview/retrospective, *not* some kind of new scripted comedic special/episode with the actors reprising their roles from the series.

So, the "special guests" like Gaga, Bieber et al., would likely participate via pre-taped video segments of each one discussing their favorite episode, favorite character or some such. The guest stars wouldn't be acting.

No?

R13 is correct too.

The sort of White People the Friends were supposed to have been-- three sheltered, spoiled Long Island JAPs and their hangers on, would be highly unlikely to have known any Black people beyond their doorman, cleaning lady or random co-worker. Especially 25 years ago

[quote] Eldergays inexplicably hate "Friends" with a passion. Ditto Seinfeld, The Office and Parks and Rec

There's nothing inexplicable about hating any of these vapid shows.

Apparently, we are now required to have black people on every show. Why not gay people, too?

R46 Not very self-aware, as Seinfeld is now considered old.

So maybe the people who don't like it are much YOUNGER than you, not much older.

If they really want some outrage, they should bring back Kathleen Turner as Chandler's dad.

Literal violence!

Except R52 for all those pesky posts where Eldergays state how much they hate Friends and never understood its popularity back in the day.

But nice try.

R53 I read Kathleen’s biography and, if I remember correctly, she was not impressed with cast’s behavior.

You can joke if you like, but one of the reasons this series never interested me was because of the lack of diversity.

Good. I don't want black people in my Friends reunion special. And neither does anybody else with half a brain.

Is Chandler going to get stuck in an ATM vestibule with Bieber, which leads to Chandler finally putting an end to that internal struggle?

This was incredibly dumb on the part of the show’s producers. Doesn’t matter whether you personally don’t care if the show has no black characters/celeb cameos, think it’s realistic as is, feel sick of diverse casting, blah, blah—they were idiots not to realize they’d get backlash for this.

Ridiculous. The crazy spewings of crazy people on Twitter are now taking over the mainstream. I seriously doubt many black people watched Friends. Much like Sex and the City and Jennifer Hudson‘s character in that movie seemed so out of place. Just like Marisa Tomei character did In A Different World.

R13, so true. People think NYC a melting pot when in reality it is very segregated. The commercial thing has been going on for years. There is definitely an agenda behind it because when you think IR couples WM/BW, which is featured the most, is not the first pairing you think of. In fact, it’s probably the lowest % of IR marriages/relationships. Yet, you’d think it represents 95% of couples based on commercials.

Because it's much easier to put an interracial couple in your TV commercial R60 than to actually do anything to address racism at your company

That retarded Korean girl group BM is supposed to be on it too.

[quote]No Mary Grandin? Alok Vaid-Menon?

Will Temple Grandin be there R44?

The autistic MUST be represented at this momentous event!

Why would there be blacks there? They'd be in Harlem probably.

Little Superstar was booked but he's in quarantine now in Chennai.

They just announced that they have added two new black actors.

"When the five friends reunite, they celebrate such a lovely evening by going for a walk in Central Park. Out from behind the trees, emerge two young men. The Friends notice the two men, with pants drooping to reveal their underwear, when the men yell, 'Yo, yo, yo, white motherfuckers!' Phoebe and Joey are then raped and everyone's wallets and purses are stolen. Monica is left bleeding on a park bench. She dies before help arrives."

This thread is toxic. Racism toward white people is reaching peak levels thanks to internet losers who obsess over something as dumb as this.

Fuck you, OP. Fuck you, Daily mail. And fuck you whiney internet losers, who hide your hatred of white people behind “woke”/sjw bullshit.

Go watch living single and eat a dick.

Justin Beiber was 10 when Friends ended. I don’t get what he has to do with the reunion.

Well, R67, a lot of it is coming from white people themselves virtue signaling. The ranting and raving on twitter would mean nothing if they were ignored, but institutions like universities, corporations, government, Hollywood etc.. who bend to their every whim and/or are like minded is really the biggest problem and the real cancel culture.

I wonder if most black people are seeing all this ultra-woke behavior and realize that, for the most part, it is nothing more than ultra-pandering. If I was black, I think I would be offended, honestly.

You all are so out of touch and uneducated. It’s scary.

Living Single had white guest characters and background characters. No black show was ever 100% black.

Friends wasn’t criticized for having the 6 main characters be white. It was criticized because 98% of the background actors and guests and secondary characters were white too.

It was a boring sitcom for boring people starring boring looking people and the guest stars are also the most boring celebrities out there.

I thought it will be just an interview with the cast? Or is it really a scripted one? If it's just an interview, maybe they can ask Oprah to do it. Or at least Gayle?

I think there’s also a problem with a white writing team writing black characters. One step out of line and blacks will cry racism.

In the 1980s, Black people were whining about the Cosby Show not being black enough. Now, they’ll scream the house down if they don’t like something.

[quote] Friends wasn’t criticized for having the 6 main characters be white.

That's just not true R71

Much of the criticism centered around "in a city as diverse as New York how can your portray a group of friends as all-white?"

And there has been much echoing of that criticism on DL-- see R25 on this thread.

I refuse to believe more than a handful of black people in the world give two shits about how many black people are or aren't on a reboot of Friends.

White SJWs, of course, are all over it. Because what the hell else do they have to do?

The anger is coming from gay white wokes only (on this site).

I don't blame them. It is a bit weird in 2021

And gay people used to bitch about Friends too. Yet you all back that criticism up.

[quote] In the 1980s, Black people were whining about the Cosby Show not being black enough. Now, they’ll scream the house down if they don’t like something.

I think that had to do more with the condescending and bourgeois air of The Cosby Show. It was definitely Black but an idealized version without any commentary on racism, classism or broader society. As a show, it was more in line with sitcoms of the 50s and early 60s. And to many working class Black people, it felt too idealized and far removed from reality. A Different World, a spin-off, was much better regarded.

[quote] I refuse to believe more than a handful of black people in the world give two shits about how many black people are or aren't on a reboot of Friends.

I agree. Friends is clearly a show for suburban white people in Middle America. Actual Black people, hell anybody who isn't a white person from the suburbs, often weren't watching it and generally found it corny and unfunny.

If you bitches want to see blacks on TV watch "Amos 'N Andy," "Beulah" and "Sanford and Son" !!!!!

R71, but that’s fishing for something. I honestly never pay attention to background characters. As far as guests, the characters were so white bread that it’s not all surprising they associated with mainly white people. Would store clerks suffice or would people then be screaming that they regulated black characters to play minimum wage workers? It’s like they can’t win no matter what. Plus, this show wasn’t based in reality. Look at the apartment the women lived in. They also celebrated every holiday together, like none had families to go home to. It’s just a dumb tv show.

Are they going to at least mention that Rachel, Ross and Monica are Jewish (something dropped after the first few seasons) and have Chandler come out as gay, Phoebe come out as a lesbian and Joey as bisexual. That would make up for the lack of racial diversity.

What is surprising to me is that so many younger people watch Friends. It's such a wack and unfunny show but it's a popular show to watch on Netflix. Also it's popular internationally, many young foreigners have watched it as well. But they don't know Seinfeld, Sanford & Son, Married with Children, Frasier, King of Queens et cetera. Shows that I feel have aged far better. People are writing preachy think pieces on such a stupid and corny show such as Friends and bashing it for not being diverse enough as if it ever was a documentary. The writing was only one level higher than any TGIF or Disney sitcom.

"What does Justin Bieber and bts have to do with friends. "

Don't know about Bieber, but the BTS/Friends link is that the leader of BTS learned English by watching DVDs of " Friends." In every interview he credits the show for teaching him English. Also, when the group was in LA, they surprised tourists on the "Friends" set. Unfortunately it was on the " Ellen Show." They would also be the response to those who would criticize for lack of " diversity." It doesn't mean just black. This could be the Bieber connection:

The Korean record label behind K-pop sensation BTS has agreed a $1bn (£725m) deal to buy the US company that manages Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato.

Hybe, BTS’s label, which was formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, announced on Friday it was buying Ithaca, the holding company of the US impresario Scooter Braun.

Was it dropped R83?

I remember the Hanukkah Armadillo episode and all but I was shocked that many DLers did not seem to realize that Aniston's Rachel Green was supposed to be Jewish-- her character embodied every single Jewish American Princess stereotype ever-- nose job, overbearing doctor daddy who spoiled her, marriage to Nice Jewish Boy dentist she wasn't in love with, job as buyer at Bloomingdale's and then Ralph Lauren (doing what she's been doing her whole life, only on a slightly larger scale)-- even the casting of her parents--Marlo Thomas and Ron Leibman--screamed "JEWISH" (Yes, I know Thomas is actually a Lebanese Christian)

I do remember reading that the Jewish executives at NBC were worried that their Must See TV line-up was far too Jewish (Seinfeld, Reiser and Friends) and pushed back at the creators to downplay it. Hence George Costanza became Likely Italian and Elaine became some sort of WASP (though Benes is a Czech name.)

I guess their plan was to play up things that other Jews would get without actually having the actors say they were Jewish.

All my friends and family members watched “Friends” back in the days, and they all loved it.

Same with “Seinfeld”, which I loathed almost as much as “Friends”, almost, because at least Seinfeld had Elaine and George who were actually funny and worth watching.

Why are they reviving all these old shows instead of coming up with new material?

All these guest stars on the reunion and they couldn't think to invite Marlo Thomas?

Marlo Thomas paved the way for shows like Friends with That Girl. It was nothing but genius casting to have her play Rachel's mother.

And where's Kathleen Turner?

They can wheel out Tom Selleck, but not the older women? Sexism!

The irony is Aniston and Cox aren't Jewish irl and their characters on Friends aren't necessarily seen as Jewish either aside from reference here and there. Monica and Rachel just fit the general spoiled white girl stereotype which includes the JAP stereotype. That's why so many suburban white girls related to Rachel Green's vapid character. Only Ross fit the specifically Jewish stereotypes to the point of caricature and was played by a Jewish actor. Phoebe isn't Jewish in the show but Kudrow is Jewish and she's just the stereotypical weird hippie chick. Joey was a stereotypical Italian-American and Chandler, a stereotypical WASP. All of the characters are stereotypes.

Many of you are showing insecurity about your intellectual credibility and high brow taste. Calling Friends a bad show because it is lowbrow. Well, smell you! Friends was the runaway success it was in English speaking cultures, particularly North America, because it was a very well and precisely crafted low brown sit com. It was quality low brow, and funny enough to middlebrows who are not snobs. Free from the need to be snobby about American culture, because it's almost all kitschy pop culture to them, European Gen x and Millenials became huge fans of Friends, in syndication. With streaming and torrents, it has found audiences around the world! It is in fact a very very good and successful entertainment product and made a lot of people very rich. It's pure escapism.

"low brown sit com" 😂. I guess I should have said "no brown"

Even when Friends was on the air, I never found it funny.

Don't blame David. David tried.

I've said this before, but if Friends premiered today the all-white cast would have people screaming. It just couldn't be done today.

[quote]Why does anybody want this? Friends was awful. I guess people watched it because there were less options.

Network tv still ruled in those days. How many young or young-ish people watch network sitcoms today? The world has changed a lot.

I think Rachel clearly read as Jewish when the show started (Courtney Cox is so goyishe that Monica never really did), but Rachel’s JAP persona became more watered down as she and Monica sort of swapped roles - when the show started Monica was the relatable everywoman who was unlucky in love and Rachel was the high-strung princess; then halfway through Rachel became the relatable everywoman who was unlucky in love and Monica’s Type A qualities were dialled up to 11. Having Christina Applegate and Reese Witherspoon guest as Rachel’s sisters in later seasons, neither of whom are believable as New York/Long Island types, further shifted Rachel into the realm of more generic white girl.

[quote]The background actors were much more diverse than Friends ever was. That is what people were expecting to see when they turned on Friends.

I have to say that back in those days if you walked into any random coffee shop or bar in Manhattan the clientele could often be all white. Yes, even in Manhattan. Not always, but it did happen. Bookstores, too. Even the big places like Barnes and Noble at Union Square were a sea of white faces.

Justin Bieber was born the year friends premiered.

[quote]Part of it is that these shows introduced a new group of young adults who were in high school in the 80s, rather than navigating the adult world, and their presence reminded Eldergays that they were getting old and were not the fresh young things anymore.

BINGO! We have a winner!

[quote] Plus, this show wasn’t based in reality. Look at the apartment the women lived in.

Even back then, that apartment would've cost a bloody fortune. The writers tried to explain it away that it was Monica's grandmother's apartment and she inherited it (her grandmother must've been a Standard Oil heiress) but even in that case, the taxes and maintenance fees would've been completely unaffordable for a middle-class person.

R100 it was her Grandmothers and it was rent controlled.

White people were about 36% of NYC population in the 90s. To think every person in every room, even on the street, is white? Nonsense.

They also weren’t rich, so it’s not like they were always at high end places.

Coffee Shops have always been a thing for white people though.

Friends was a huge hit then too. It was the most watched American show in the world besides Baywatch in the 90s and early 00s.

It’s the most successful American show in foreign markets, and there is not a single hour that this show is not on air somewhere in the world, not to mention streaming now.

You all may have not liked it, but it was bringing in 30+ million viewers a week back then.

How I Met Your Mother is also one of the most successful American shows in foreign countries. It’s beloved overseas.

Shit on Friends as much as you want, it was a HIT, and still brings in almost $1 billion a year for WB, which is why the cast still makes almost $20 million a year off of a show that will have ended 20 years ago in 3 years.

It also had its critical successes. Season 8 was beloved by fans and critics and it won Best Comedy Series that year.

[quote]The background actors were much more diverse than Friends ever was. That is what people were expecting to see when they turned on Friends.

Nobody that was tuning in to Friends was expecting to see that the background actors were diverse. People were watching because they found the show entertaining.

[quote] it was her Grandmothers and it was rent controlled.

Her grandmother must've been loaded. Even back in the day that place would've cost a lot.

[quote]Friends was a huge hit then too. It was the most watched American show in the world besides Baywatch in the 90s and early 00s.

Both of these shows gave the rest of the world the image of America they wanted to see.

R102 The city as a whole, yes. But, not the neighborhood Friends was supposed to take place in. Gramercy Park is and was majority white.

[quote] Her grandmother must've been loaded. Even back in the day that place would've cost a lot.

Do you not understand rent control?

In NYC and other places in the US, landlords are forbidden from raising the rent on certain apartments by more than a small percentage every year.

If a tenant has been living in the apartment for 50 or 60 years, they can be paying as little as 1/10 of the market rate IN RENT -- they do not own the apartment, the person or company that owns the building does.

Rent control laws have been interpreted (by the courts) to allow people to pass the apartment down to family members if they can prove that the family member has been living there, and the child or grandchild also gets to pay the vastly reduced rent.

Surprisingly, there was no income cap on rent control for many years--you could be a millionaire and paying $500/month to rent an apartment whose market rate rent was $5K

R110 one of the guys my stepdad knows from church for years, Larry, is in his 60s and lives in the apartment he was born in, that belonged to his parents decades ago. It was rent controlled (and is) and he pays $400 a month for a huge 3 bedroom apartment. The living room alone is larger than some of these new 1 bedroom apartments. It’s massive.

I heard the owners of the building can’t wait for him to croak so they can cut that apartment up into 3 or 4 studios.

[quote]White people were about 36% of NYC population in the 90s. To think every person in every room, even on the street, is white? Nonsense.

Were you even IN Manhattan in the 1990s, bitch? Because I and a lot of other posters here were and we can tell you that there were many, many places that were nothing but a sea of white faces back then. Coffee shops, bars, internet cafes and others. STFU and sit down.

All they needed to do was have Ross and Rachel’s now-adult daughter Emma have transitioned to a black man named Emmett. Problem solved.

[quote] transitioned to a black man

Can you do that?

Can you even imagine the uproar over Kathleen Turner playing trans, and all the jokes they did about it, in today's climate?

Greetings gays!

After the recent announcement that I will be playing Carrie Bradshaw's newest bestie of color on the SatC reboot, I am thrilled to announce that I will be also playing Joey's sister from another mister DeeDee, also a woman of both integrity and color.

I'm grateful beyond words.

A shout out to all of my brothers and sisters in the struggle.

Friends is white people culture, along with mayonnaise, macaroni salad, and khaki shorts.

[quote] Racism toward white people is reaching peak levels

Thoughts and prayers, r67. I just hope that you have a strong enough support group around you to help you get through this difficult time in American history, otherwise known as the Friends Reunion Era of Literal Violence Against White People.

By the way, the Cosby backlash became more vocal when he started openly criticizing the way young Black men talked and dressed.

James Cordon? That hypocritical asshole? One of more reason NOT to watch this show

Friends is a cultural phenomenon in the UK. The US is more meh about it. It has its fans but the real money is overseas. Matt LeBlanc got a career in the UK thanks to it.

R119, hypocritical?

R113, isn’t this just a sit down interview or is it a new episode? Did anyone see the video where they removed the laugh track? Not one funny line.

R120 again, was getting 30 million viewers a week. Not so meh.

Friends is bigger throughout Asia than anywhere

Why would they have Kathleen Turner? She’s always been vocal about how awful the cast were to guests.

R117 Does ANYONE eat macaroni salad? I've seen it before but I've never actually seen anyone eat it. The thought of eating cold noodles makes me want to retch.

Macaroni Salad and Potato Salad are not white people creations. They exist in foreign countries with actual ingredients.

The white people version is trash.

Since the original "Friends" never had any black or Asian people on it why should it be a surprise that this "reunion" or "reboot" or whatever the hell it is isn't racially diverse? I'm sure the fans of "Friends" don't give a rat's ass that this doesn't feature any "black people."

To paraphrase one of the above posters, there are probably four black people in all of America who could give a fuck about Friends and whether or not there were any black people on it. It's all coming from Woke Whites with too much time on their hands.

How long before white people have to sit at the back of the bus and drink for a separate water fountain?

At least they should have shown Chandler's coke dealer

I don’t get the issue. Black people don’t even watch friends they have better taste than that.

Some black people do. Not all black people like the same shit. Jesus.

It was only in the 1980s that rents in NYC got out of control.

If Monica’s grandmother was paying $100 per month in the 1950s for that apartment, under rent stabilization it would have only gone up 1-3% each year, based on what the Mayor’s stabilization board decided.

Monica just sneaked in under the wire. During the run of the program, New York State made it more difficult to pass on rent stabilized apartments. I believe Monica’s grandmother would have to put Monica’s name on the lease before she attempted to pass it on and it would have to end with Monica (she couldn’t pass the stabilization on to anyone else). At the time of the law, an apartment became destabilized when rent hit $2,000 per month. I think that’s now been readjusted to $2600 or $2800. Also, the landlord could have reclaimed that apartment for personal use.

Stabilization is different from rent control which is a different program where rent is calibrated to income.

My landlord owns buildings in the area of the Friends building and he successfully de-stabilized hundreds of apartments by renting to college students. The students would rent for a year or two and then move on. He could make some “improvements” and raise the rent, working to push the rent to that magic $2,000 number. And nowadays parents will pay any price for Madysn to live her dream in Greenwich Village while attending NYU.

The issue lies with a few social media overseers who go around looking for media that does not feature black people and posting their outrage. That way, they get attention, which is beneficial for them, since, in real life, no one pays attention to them. Most of them are unattractive white college girls from liberal arts colleges in the East.

Suddenly living in NYC or LA is everyone’s dream.

Can’t happen soon enough for the SJWs, r130.

Eventually they had Aisha Tyler on the show as Ross’s love interest. Her race was never part of the plot; she was just a person. Imagine that.

R138 thanks to David himself

As others have mentioned. Only the SJW types who are like 1% of the population care. They just seem bigger than they are due to Twitter and other social media. Friends was a product of its time and had a very clear target demographic. TV in the 90s was still pretty segregated. Plus honestly most friend groups are monoracial. I think many people understand this but its the SJWs who need to be outraged over stupid pop culture rather than pay attention to real issues like pollution, economics,, wars and politics

Excellent explanation of rent control R134, but one nit:

[quote] And nowadays parents will pay any price for Madysn to live her dream in Greenwich Village while attending NYU.

People who can afford to pay the rent on a Manhattan apartment for their kids don't name their offspring "Madysn"

That's what their receptionists do.

[quote] People who can afford to pay the rent on a Manhattan apartment for their kids don't name their offspring "Madysn"

Trust me, they do. I have a Madison living in my building and her parents are paying her rent, but I think she’s going to FIT for fashion design.

[quote]People who can afford to pay the rent on a Manhattan apartment for their kids don't name their offspring "Madysn"

I remember when only black people named their children after dead white presidents. At least they had good reasons.

Ugh Ive come across many white people here whose parents are paying everything for them. And they’re the ones who make videos on TT showing NYC as if it’s just laying around and brunching everyday.

“I wake up at 9am and make a smoothie then go for a jog, then go home and shower, then go buy a coffee, then go eat lunch, then...”

It annoys you.

Yes R142, a "Madison"

Not a "Madysn"

There's a difference

In African series and films there is never any white. Not one. The whites who live in Africa have never complained. Same thing in the India series and fillms from Bollywwod or in the Asian series. I also observed that in the American Black series, there was no white. No one complains about that. White people should always do inclusion when they themselves don't.

Victimization becomes a business and I am starting to find this blackmail tiring. When I see that the Arabs still enslave black people in Africa and that the black people in the West close their eyes and their mouths, I just want to throw up.

African series? As in series made and set in Africa, r146????

I’ve been working remotely for the past year. One of the girls I work with has brought up some race stuff. She’s black and lives in NYC. Some comments are a bit cringe like when she was laughing at the white people dancing in zoom and has dropped some stereotypes about Hispanics. She also mentioned that she was at the gym and annoyed that someone tried to help her. She mentioned he was white, like it was unheard for her to have any interaction with white people. I thought it was strange. But it goes to show that things work both ways and many people still live and want to live segregated.

R147 Lol ignorant !!!! There are a LOT of series in Africa.

R148 oh please. Please stop the trolling. It’s old. It’s boring. You’re played out.

R149 correct. But what you’re speaking about are not AFRICAN series...

R151 What? I lived in Africa for years and i m telling you there are AFRICAN SERIES. In what fucking century are you living???? Middleage????

Omg this person really can’t be this stupid. I’m done.

African series filmed in Africa having almost all black people makes sense. Not in the USA. This is not white land.

In Europe, ok. Here? No. This is not your land.

[quote]No. This is not your land.

It’s not your land either toots.

R153 You are the stupid one here. Have you ever put your ignorant feet in Africa? I'm sure not. Of course there are a lot of white people in Africa. It is African land yes that even the Chinese have invaded in recent years. You don't even know what you're talking about. As for Europe, this is a land of whites and yet African immigration is super dense. And in Europe, blacks also want to be represented. Shut your big mouth, poor simpleton.

R154 belongs to everyone or no one. White people didn’t originate here.

R155 you signed onto one of your other accounts to comment this?! Dude. Stop the fucking trolling. How many accounts do you need to lose to get it?

R150, not trolling and that’s a 100% true story. Don’t know where you live, but it can’t be NYC. I’ve lived in NYC all my life and this melting pot narrative where everyone hangs out with everyone else is bullshit. Try going to Williamsburg or Brownsville some time.

Friends so white!

Looks it's a nostalgic reunion about a white show from the 90s, it's not some event to further the BLM agenda, no matter how hard some on social media try to turn everything into a race matter.

So now people who saw the original run of Friends are considered eldergays? The final episode was in 2004.

I loved Friends. I remember Angela Lansbury was mad it was beating her in the ratings and put it down. Then she did a Murder She Wrote episode set on a Friends-type show called Buds.

R157 WTF are you talking about ???? I am not a troll, you are just a fucking ignorant. Blocked. Imbecile

R158 lmaooooooooooo

Your comment at r161 confirmed who you are.

Don’t worry, I will check on the computer later.

The show wouldn’t have been near as pleasant to watch if their apartments looked like the Evan’s apartment in Good Times.

Yup. And psycho homie runs his mouth and then uses his accounts to FF when called out. Only Muriel isn’t doing anything to my account. I’m here. Muriel has been working with me when it comes to you.

You’re digging your own grave.

It’s not so anonymous anymore r161

Maybe you were right about my profession, and you’ve been traced and tracked for some time now.

So whites must systematically include blacks in the series casts but it's okay when blacks make series with a 100% black casting. Well, America is such a bizarre world.

There is never 100% black casting.

The show wouldn't have been near as popular if any of the friends were from a minority group, Joey was about ethnic as they wanted to push it. The show was a fantasy for those living in the suburbs and those in foreign markets, a fantasy version of New York where a waitress and a non-famous chef could afford to live in a massive apartment while still maintaining a great social life and enjoying life. Nobody in the suburbs were interested in people of color and so that character would've been a weak link, just by the fact that viewer testing would force the writers to give the character the least amount of screen time.

Lisa Kudrow’s son is hot.

R169 Crazy that she was pregnant with him in the show, feels like only yesterday that they did the weird triplet storyline with her brother.

So - wait - the reunion show isn't them playing the characters people know them for? 'Cause that spells epic fail... I mean, in the history of television backlash. Like Bobby dream history of television.

[quote]Was it South Park that got push back for not having any black kids so Matt and Trey added one and named him Token?

Token was around before they ever included him in any plots on the show. The character, "Token Black," while calling attention to "token" casting also is used to show how racist the other characters are. He's also used to call attention to stereotypes. He's a straight A student, he's calm and rational all the time and his family is the richest family in town.

Trey voiced him in his first season. After that Adrien Beard did it. Where that might have come from is that the reason they asked Adrien Beard to do it is because he was the only black person that "worked in the building" and he was a storyboard artist. He's gotten to the character ever since on the show and even in their video games as his role has grown over the years.

Sorry. I read something upthread suggested they were playing characters like their characters but not their characters. It's just a retrospective thing. Without a cast acting. So who cares if there are black people there or not? What are they going to say? Remember the one with black people because that's almost none of them? It was what it was when it was. Can we just have some fun?

New York is pretty segregated. There are a few black regulars who come to the neighborhood pub and drink with all the whiteys. There’s also an East Indian and a handsome Turkish man and some Spaniards. Also young people and old people. It’s a nice mix, so I’m gonna take back my first sentence. The only time there’s trouble is when someone brings their dog and it barks too much.

This is what they said the Friends reunion will be for people who are confused

Kudrow will be 58 in July. I had not realized she was that old.

She looks damn good.

[quote] I loved Friends. I remember Angela Lansbury was mad it was beating her in the ratings and put it down. Then she did a Murder She Wrote episode set on a Friends-type show called Buds.

Angie always was a beyotch.

Remember that part of Phoebe’s backstory was that she was living on the streets in the East Village in the 1980s. Of course she knew non-white people. Friends should have done a “Rent” episode with her. It could have been a back door pilot for “Rent, a downscale version of Friends” sitcom.

Buds

[quote]So now people who saw the original run of Friends are considered eldergays? The final episode was in 2004.

The original audience would be in their forties and fifties now, so yes. The entire cast is in their fifties.

[quote] The show was a fantasy for those living in the suburbs and those in foreign markets, a fantasy version of New York where a waitress and a non-famous chef could afford to live in a massive apartment while still maintaining a great social life and enjoying life.

Friends was an imaginary NYC that was palatable to Middle America. Nothing about that show or those characters was NY at all. They could've set it in any city in the US.

R175 My guess is that they mean it will be similar to the 1993 Beverly Hillbillies special, in which the cast appeared in character and explained what had happened to them since the series ended.

R180 People in their 40s and 50s aren't considered elderly. Are actors like George Clooney, Paul Rudd, Matt Damon, and Bradley Cooper normally considered seriors, or old folks?

[quote] People in their 40s and 50s aren't considered elderly.

You hand in your card if you're gay or get out, straighty!

R183, in the gay world you're an eldergay by 35.

Although 52 year old Paul Rudd could easily pull off 34 so he'd get a pass.

I hope the show will open with Phoebe and Ross' funeral. Rachel is heard telling someone that Phoebe and Ross had been out and about, being their usual shrill, abrasive, obnoxious, unfunny selves when they ran into a large group of people. They tried to be funny and sarcastic with those people and ended up angering them.

The mob charges down at them, strips them, beats them black and blue, robs them and crushes them to death. The group doing all this turns out to be BLM protestors. Two birds, one stone. The cuntiest characters killed off in the first five minutes and enough black people in that one mob scene to solve the representation problem and shut the SJWs up.

Ross' dying words are a whiny, "I dated a black for 5 seconds. What more do you people want?"

[quote]In the gay world you're an eldergay by 35.

I was a very young looking 35 year old (yes it's the DL claim, I know, but I was. I was YOUNG I tell you! Bahaha) so was not very affected by this rule. But I also don't consider Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Robert Pattinson, Dave Franco, who all just hit 35, elders.

We, black people, need to leave Friends alone and try to bring back the ORIGINAL show that Friends copied "Living Single" ... it fucking sucks that the milquetoast Friends cast benefited a lot more financially from an imitation.

Someone mentioned voices. I’ve actually been very surprised to hear Aniston in this and another interview at some award show. Her voice has really changed. About Matthew P. I am actually shocked to learn he’s only 51. I thought he was closer to Kudrow’s age. Even with chronic drug use, isn’t 51 early to display such physical altering signs?

BTS is a guest!? Nice! Is this out already?

Which one did Bieber scissor in his trailer?

"A semi-alphabetical listing of Black actors with speaking roles on 'Friends'" in handy music video form:

"We, black people, need to leave Friends alone and try to bring back the ORIGINAL show that Friends copied "Living Single"

I wanted to be fucked by Overton.

[quote]R24 It seems like every show has to check off their token boxes and make sure they have at least one or more of everything.

And why shouldn’t they? Every segment watches and thereby pays the bills.

R1- Friends was THE very definition of MEDIOCRE.

I have never seen a full episode of that lank show, except the one with Brooke Shields (who I inexplicably like)

I really don't think anyone is "outraged", other than shitty magazine writers, do you?

Jen still looks the best after so many years. The men look horrible. Yuck

R188 I hate that sort of thing.

You can tell how pampered and spoiled and coddled white people have been in America since day one by how massive the tantrum and overreaction they exhibit with any kind of criticism. Contemptible pisspants whiny little bitches like R67 and R130 are exhibit A and B. White people aren't suffering anything right now compared to the suffering they dished out to Black people and other POC FOREVER. I guarantee you the white people complaining on this board about how much they're being victimized by "woke/SJW blah blah blah" never gave a damn about the evil that white people heaped on non-whites literally for centuries in this country in the streets, the courts, the media...but hold white people a little accountable for the things they do and they start blubbering "stop the world, white people not getting pampered! The sky is falling!" SUCK IT. You don't get to have it your way for centuries in this country and then complain that you're getting criticized. No one should feel sorry for you -- including YOU. You don't get to have hurt feelings if you've mocked and trampled on and disrespected the feelings of others so hatefully for so long.

FWIW, Gaga was the best part of the stupid reunion.

Anybody else not bother to read r200?

There were no blacks or Asians at Central Perk. It was I don't like show anyway so nobody cares.

R203 never watched Friends!

#FriendsSoWhite

Jen’s plastic surgery looks horrific

Greek women don't age well. Greek men, either.

I thought she was aging really well, not sure why she went the filler route.

[quote] Greek women don't age well. Greek men, either.

The fuck you talking about?

R207, go suck Sasha Zverev's puny dick.

R209's not proving the point.

Stamos looks like a grampa.