Friends Alum Adam Goldberg Calls Out Show's Lack of Diversity: 'Incredibly Unrealistic Portrayal'

Adam Goldberg talks about his time on the Friends — and the lack of variety seen in hit TV series.

In an interview with The Independent, Goldberg — who played Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) eccentric roommate Eddie in three episodes in 1996 — criticized the show’s lack of diversity. Jokingly asking “how the hell” did the characters afford to live in their nice apartments in the city, Goldberg said the show offered viewers an “incredibly unrealistic portrayal” of New York.

“In terms of diversity, looking back, it seems crazy,” he said. “I’ve heard black people talk about this and it’s like you never expected to see each other, so when you didn’t, it wasn’t a surprise, and you ended up identifying with the characters, regardless of their race.”

He noted that the lack of diversity was “the norm” at the time, adding, “I mean, I spent a lot of my career complaining about how Italians could play Jews,” he added. “See [Robert] Played by De Niro[s] Jews, but very rarely do you see someone who is a famous Jewish actor playing an Italian.”

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Adam Goldberg.

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He left to reflect on his own experiences in the entertainment industry.

“I would get feedback about not being All-American enough, which, you know, if you said that to somebody now, you’d probably get fired,” he said. “Or maybe not, because all-American has become such a derisive term.”

Then he said that it wasn’t just that Friends which omitted inclusive representation of all people. In many cases, “it’s just the norm that there’s such a lack of diversity.”

“The whole culture was like that, and television was just an amplification of that culture,” he said.

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Regardless, How to lose a guy in 10 days The alum said he’s always been grateful for his time on the hit sitcom — even if it was just for three episodes.

“I’m so happy to be a part of the show’s legacy. I love it,” he told the outlet. “I think about all those guys and how amazing it is for someone like Jennifer Aniston, who’s been able to have this really pretty expansive career. And it’s really remarkable, because I think it must be very, very, very difficult to be a part of something that was so wildly popular and not just be identified by it.”

Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller in ‘Friends’.

Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty

The Friends The showrunners have addressed the show’s lack of diversity in the past, saying that many things would be different about the show if it were set in the current era.

“If we are Friends today, no, I don’t think they would probably end up with an all-white cast,” executive producer Kevin Bright said The Hollywood Reporter in 2021

“We would be so aware,” he said. “So much would change, but if we made them behave realistically in this time, a lot would change about them. And their racial makeup would change because of it.”

In 2022, creator Marta Kauffman also spoke about the show’s lack of diversity.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years,” Kauffman said in an interview with Los Angeles Times. “Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful to look in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago.”

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Friends is available for streaming on Max.

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Source: HIS Education