After years of criticism, the co-creator of the popular sitcom Friends has apologized for the show’s lack of diversity, offering a $4 million donation in hopes of contributing to conversations regarding racial equality.
Marta Kauffman pledged the donation to fund an endowed chair in her alma mater Brandeis University’s African and African American Studies Department.
“I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years,” Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times. “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.”
The television writer said the aftermath of the 2020 death of George Floyd pushed her to grapple with the show’s near-absence of people of color.
“I knew then I needed to course-correct,” Kauffman explained.
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The donation will support a scholar who focuses on the study of the peoples and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora.
“It will ensure the study of African and African American culture, history, and politics for generations of Brandeis students — something more critical than ever,” Brandeis President Ron Liebowitz said. “We are so grateful to Marta for her generosity and vision.”
“It took me a long time to begin to understand how I internalized systemic racism,” Kauffman said. “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.”
Co-creator Kevin Bright has defended the show’s choice of actors who ended up being white.
“I would have been insane not to hire those six actors. What can I say? I wish Lisa was black?” Bright told the Hollywood Reporter.
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Since pledging the donation, Kauffman said she has received “nothing but love.”
“In this case, I’m finally, literally putting my money where my mouth is,” Kauffman said. “I feel I was finally able to make some difference in the conversation.”
