‘Friends’ co-creator Marta Kauffman made a donation to Brandeis University earlier this month. She pledged her alma mater $4 million to establish an endowed professorship in the African and American Studies Department there. This was as a part of an apology for the lack of diversity in her show. 

Kauffman said, “It took me a long time to begin to understand how I internalized systemic racism. I’ve been working really hard to become an ally, an anti-racist. And this seemed to me to be a way that I could participate in the conversation from a white woman’s perspective.”

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The sitcom that she and David Crane made had an all-white cast. The show ‘Friends’ had received huge popularity throughout the years because of the engaging story and elements of humor in it. The show still holds a massive fanbase and is one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. But the show which ran from the year of 1994 to 2004 was criticized highly because of the lack of diversity. The sitcom received criticism because it hardly featured a character of color. 

Kauffman said it was highly difficult for her to understand why people were so much critical of the show but it came to her understanding only after the George Floyd incident. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times she said, “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.” 

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The writer cum creator also said that from her future projects she will have a diverse team on board. She also said, “I want to make sure from now on in every production I do that I am conscious in hiring people of color and actively pursue young writers of color. I want to know I will act differently from now on. And then I will feel unburdened”.