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Quinta Brunson blasts Friends for having no black characters

posted a year ago by leader (1962)
44 replies | jump to latest

Saturday Night Live host Quinta Brunson decided to call out the lack of black characters in Friends during her opening monologue on the show.

During her opening monologue the Abbott Elementary creator explained what her show was like, drawing some parallels with that famous sitcom Friends, only with one rather clear difference.

She said: "It's a network sitcom like, say, Friends, except instead of being about a group of friends, it's about a group of teachers.

"Instead of New York, it's in Philadelphia, and instead of not having black people, it does!"

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Do you find her criticism valid?

[–] samoanjoes (56748) a year ago

Funny how black people complain about a show having no black characters when that exact same show doesn't have Asian, Hispanic etc. characters in it either. They don't realize that their own argument is the same level of bias that they're claiming the show is doing.

[–] prometheus1816 (1060) a year ago

Right now the soap opera Days of our Lives have too many interracial relationships. It's too many. And in the HBO show The Last of Us all three main characters of Joel Miller, Ellie Williams, and Tommy Miller all have or had relationships with black women. Again, it's too many. I don't mind an occasional couple, but when it's done for the sole reason to up the "woke" content of the show, then it's not doing anything bit showing it's hiring quota. And that is the issue I have with AMPAS. They have installed unrealistic hiring quotas on shows that are not realistic. Friends was correct in the level of the close knit friendships Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, Joey, and Monica formed. I didn't have any Blacks, Asians, or any other ethnic group in my circles growing up in the 70s.

[–] CarolTheDabbler (570) a year ago

She said: "It's a network sitcom like, say, Friends, except instead of being about a group of friends, it's about a group of teachers.

"Instead of New York, it's in Philadelphia, and instead of not having black people, it does!"

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Do you find her criticism valid?

Well, to be fair, I don't see any criticism there. It's criticism of Friends only if someone thinks that teachers are better than friends, or Philadelphia is better than New York, or black people are better than non-blacks. I think they're merely different.

[–] BeaSouth (3298) a year ago

Does her show have a pregnant wife who leaves her husband for a lesbian relationship where the two women decide to marginalize him in their decision-making about his own child? Because this was LGBTQ diversity representation in like episode 3 of Friends

[–] R_Kane (15828) a year ago

Nothing on SNL has been valid for over 2 decades.

[–] PaladinNJ (21510) a year ago

Apples and oranges. One has nothing to do with the other.

[–] Theman (1224) a year ago

They had one episode where it was all black people besides the cast. The episode was called The One About The Black People.

[–] liscarkat (18410) a year ago

It's refreshing to watch a pre-2010s/2020s show that isn't trying to check off DEI boxes. A sitcom with only one agenda: to be funny. What a concept!

Brunson can watch "Sanford and Son", "The Jeffersons", "The Cosby Show", or "Amos 'n' Andy" if seeing black faces is her top priority. Fortunately for me, I don't give a crap what she thinks.