Lisa Kudrow addresses 'Friends' criticism of an all-white cast

The timeless nineties sitcom Friends till date, remains one of the most-loved shows in television history.

However, in spite of the acclaim, the show has been ensnared in its fair share of controversies, especially involving its lack of diversity with an all-white cast.

Lisa Kudrow, who essay the role of Phoebe Buffay on the show, was asked to give her take on the common criticism during her interview with the Times in the UK.

She was asked what changes would be made if the show had been shot in the current progressive times.

"It would not be an all-white cast, for sure," she said, adding that the show was a ‘time capsule’ of that era and the viewers should be looking at it in that context: "But, to me, [Friends] should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong.”

She also added that she thought the show was quite ‘progressive’ for its time: "There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together. We had surrogacy, too. It was, at the time, progressive.”

She further explained that even with the criticism, the show is still relevant to the audience today: “Yes, it’s a fun comedy, but it’s also about people connecting, and part of what appeals about it now is that young people have this unconscious nostalgia for personal connection. And not just right now during the pandemic, but before that.”

She also revealed what she thought her character of Phoebe Buffay and her husband Mike Hannigan would be up to in quarantine: “I feel like if they’d had kids, she would be militaristic about creating art. So their place would be overrun with huge, outlandish projects."