Co-creator of “Friends” Marta Kauffman is issuing another apology for the way the show handled a controversial issue.
During an interview with The Conversation on the BBC World Service, Kauffman commented on the issue of Chandler’s transgender parent, as The Huffington Post reported.
“We kept referring to her [Chandler’s transgender parent] as ‘Chandler’s father’, even though Chandler’s father was trans,” Kauffman said.
She added, “Pronouns were not yet something that I understood. So we didn’t refer to that character as ‘she’. That was a mistake.”
Kauffman explained she is making it a point to make her workplaces inclusive.
“I like very much to create an environment where we have a happy set and a happy crew,” she said.
Kauffman continued, “It’s very important to me that where we are is a safe place, a tolerant place, where there’s no yelling.”
According to Kauffman, she “fired a guy on the spot for making a joke about a trans cameraperson. That just can’t happen.”
Kathleen Turner played the role of Chandler’s father, Charles Bing, in two episodes.
Turner said during a 2019 interview with Watch What Happens Live she would not take the role today “because there would be real people able to do [the part].”
Additionally, Turner shared she was drawn to the role because she felt she would be a “woman playing a man playing a woman,” adding, “I [hadn’t] done that before!”
Last week, Kauffman apologized for the lack of diversity on the show, as IJR reported.
“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,” Kauffman said.
The lack of diversity on the show was a result of Kauffman’s internalization of systemic racism she claims has become an issue in society.
It was after the death of George Floyd she had that realization.
“That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct,” Kauffman said.
