MovieChat Forums > Chappelle's Show (2003) Discussion > Do you agree with the critic Paul M that...

Do you agree with the critic Paul M that Friends is Racist?


I'm watching it now. I saw them trying to get a bridal dress in Brooklyn. It was like season seven. About twenty percent of the supporting cast was black and one of the main cast said this is the first time she's been in Brooklyn (presumably in a while).

And then the soap episode. I thought it was different but about twenty percent.

New York is culturally diverse and maybe whites are over represented but only slightly so. Maybe to even the scale or maybe simply because the main cast of friends is really four relatives who happen to be the same race but it's a more common occurrence among relatives, more likely to happen but not always, and then there are only two actual friends, a guy friend Joey and a girl friend Phoebe, who are also white and the four relatives share these two friends because it is so hard to make friends... but these stats in NYC are believable. And then twenty percent black is believable but slightly low.

But then in Central Perk you can cut it down to half. Now why is it the whitest coffee shop in Central Park area? That is kind of bizarre. So if Friends is racist, let's say it starts here. So what is going on?

Personally what I think it is, is that Gunther is not racist but the way the owner looks raises question, and there are so many coffee shops that his appearance hurts his business and other than that it would be a little more over white because the main characters are all Caucasian but it's a believable situation especially since there four relatives and only two actual friends, but friends are really hard to come by....

So I don't know... but if racism is on Friends it starts or is most pronounced at Central Perk and then its' coming from all angles, too.. Like a racism vortex in multiple dimension... not that much but lots of ways to look at it and it's a little weird, but that's my theory.

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Dude...the definition of 'Racist' is very strict - The belief that one race is 'superior' to another. Having the wrong statistical ratio of black/white is not racist...insensitive maybe...but not racist.

So can you pick any LINE of dialogue in Friends that can confirm that they thought that the white race was superior to others?


You should put that big racing brain of yours to better use...

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Explain why Central perk is whiter than the snow?

The PRESUMPTION of racism starts there, and I personally go no further, but the way I explain it is that the owner looks like some Nazi-type dude. So it's not that gunther is racist; it's the fear of his racism that creates this sway...

But it's going to be a little bit whiter than the rest of the show so it's probably planned that way to draw the discussion there.

Brooklyn bridal show sale = barely reasonable percentages.

Central Perk is unbelievably white by comparison so you know something is going on.

Other than the apartment it's noticeably the whitest place on Friends.

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This joke I was making about the coffee, at the time of posting watching a couple of episodes that day I felt that the percentage of extras that were minorities were abnormally somewhat low at Central Perk. It was more of a working theory, something it just appeared to be that day, and I thought maybe that's an inside joke, that people are afraid of Gunther's appearance in a way that explains their own prejudice or fear within that reduced the minority extras in the coffee shop...

But I was really thinking, could that be an inside joke?


Well I don't watch Friends all the time but let's say over a month I could easily catch a couple of episodes every once in a while as much as they play it on so many stations... and I'm watching it now and I'm unsure about the Central Perk issue?

Are there less minorities in the crowd in these scenes relative to other places?

I can't say... It's something that now if I watch the show I'm unsure, and today there were like almost 2 out of ten people which is more reasonable for friends, or maybe a little low, unsure, but sometimes it's even none....

I don't know. It's a working theory and it's more of a guess but I think purposefully whatever the number is, it may go down at Central Perk, but I'm unsure...

If anyone else picks up that it's a little weird, or not, but has a strong feeling on it, I wonder what other people think, because it's at the level I can't really say.

I don't know exactly what's going on with the relative change in the percentage of Caucasian extras in crowds at Central Perk other than other places on the show, but that's the one even now I have a hard time going against Mooney... That's the issue I have on my eye on now moving forward when watching the show and it's not clear but it's hard to overturn all them other episodes where the people were whiter just having a couple episodes where the gap closes.... and this was a Season 9er and Gunther's hair was less bleachy... It could be a factor.

Because really that's what it was in the first place... what made him look like a Nazi was that he bleached his blonde hair to be whiter... and then as I keep my private eye on it I see that his blonde by season 9 is normal blonde but first I noticed the blonde as bleached, like extra blonde? And then why would he bleach his hair? What was going on in the early season of Friends, and did was the change more than an external issue, given how rare it is for men to bleach their hair in the first place?

What kind of statement, if any, was he trying to make?

Or was it the lighting?

I have my eye on it now though. Many things can be funny and true and humor or a smile can make the truth an aphrodisiac. I'm unsure but I still have an eye on this one and if this notion solidifies more in either direction, or the nuances behind it are better explained (like less bleachy super white Nazi hair - he's got some color in his blonde now) I'll open it up for discussion.

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white people make up 60% of the population,, when Friends was on the air it was like 65% of the population.. Friends was based on a group of white people,, was it racist.. no, it wasn't racist.

If Friends was Racist, then so too was Living Single, and Martin, and most of the other predominately black shows from the 90's..

Fact remains that these shows weren't racist, they were going for a certain demographic, the demographic Friends was going for wouldn't have been increased by having a few extra black characters, much like the demographic of living single or Martin wouldn't have increased if they included a few extra white characters to the extras..

Would you said Seinfeld was racist, (excluding the incident with Kramer which happened after the show went off the air) it was another story set with a white cast in New York City with very few black extras..

Hollywood isn't real life, just because a show or movie is set in a certain time period or area doesn't mean the show needs to match the real life demographics of that area.. After all it's called acting..

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No but I do find Friends to be offensive and assaulting to the senses for a variety of other reasons.

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