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Topic	Here's Your Reminder That 'Friends' Was Really, Really Homophobic
FreezerDoor 10/03/19 4:22:44 PM #1:	https://www.out.com/television/2019/10/01/heres-your-reminder-friends-was-really-really-homophobic But even as the show shaped what television is, not all of the 85 hours of Friends has held up well. As a recent news item involving a squashed gay-themed storyline reminds us, Friends is still really, really homophobic. According to a newly published look behind the scenes of the smash sitcom, Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show that Defined a Television Era, the shows writers pitched a B-plot in which Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) sneaks into a gay bar, not for the queer camraderie or the love of ABBA songs but because he likes the establishments tuna melts. Perry said no, and the story was shelved, writes author Saul Austerlitz, as the U.K. newspaper The Independent first reported. While Austerlitz doesnt comment on the tone of the one-off storyline, its hard to imagine the scene would have gone well. The male characters on Friends showed a noted discomfort and disdain toward LGBTQ+ people during its 10 seasons from Chandlers aversion to his transgender parent (played by Kathleen Turner, still slaying the role) to a particular episode in which Ross (David Schwimmer) insists his male nanny must be gay. Nearly anytime LGBTQ+ people are brought up through the show, its played for laughs whether its the running joke that people think Chandler is gay or an episode where Joey (Matt Leblanc) convinces an acting student who he is competing for a role on All My Children to play the character homosexually. In perhaps the most on-the-nose depiction of its tendency toward gay panic for cheap laughs, Joey and Ross freak out in the seventh season of Friends after they accidentally fall asleep together on the couch. What happened? Ross screams, before insisting: We fell asleep that is all. The apparently traumatic cuddle is so integral to the episodes arc that the installment is literally called The One With The Nap Partners. While it would be easy to dismiss Friends as a product of its time, many of its contemporaries were well ahead on LGBTQ+ representation from Blanche (Rue McClanahan) learning to embrace her gay brother on The Golden Girls to the groundbreaking same-sex wedding in Roseanne. To its credit, Friends did air a lesbian wedding, between Carol (Jane Sibbett) and Susan (Jessica Hecht), but it primarily served to underscore how uncomfortable Ross was with his ex-wifes new relationship. In addition to notoriously not allowing the newlyweds to kiss in fear of upsetting censors the episode also featured Chandler propositioning a lesbian wedding guest, and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) blurting out, Now Ive seen everything! during the ceremony. --- Edmonton Oilers winning a draft is like giving a homeless person money but knowing they are going to spend it on drugs and alcohol- Xunolix <cite>FreezerDoor posted [p:928290741] in Here's... [t:78060850]...</cite> <quote>https://www.out.com/television/2019/10/01/heres-your-reminder-friends-was-really-really-homophobic But even as the show shaped what television is, not all of the 85 hours of Friends has held up well. As a recent news item involving a squashed gay-themed storyline reminds us, Friends is still really, really homophobic. According to a newly published look behind the scenes of the smash sitcom, Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show that Defined a Television Era, the shows writers pitched a B-plot in which Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) sneaks into a gay bar, not for the queer camraderie or the love of ABBA songs but because he likes the establishments tuna melts. Perry said no, and the story was shelved, writes author Saul Austerlitz, as the U.K. newspaper The Independent first reported. While Austerlitz doesnt comment on the tone of the one-off storyline, its hard to imagine the scene would have gone well. The male characters on Friends showed a noted discomfort and disdain toward LGBTQ+ people during its 10 seasons from Chandlers aversion to his transgender parent (played by Kathleen Turner, still slaying the role) to a particular episode in which Ross (David Schwimmer) insists his male nanny must be gay. Nearly anytime LGBTQ+ people are brought up through the show, its played for laughs whether its the running joke that people think Chandler is gay or an episode where Joey (Matt Leblanc) convinces an acting student who he is competing for a role on All My Children to play the character homosexually. In perhaps the most on-the-nose depiction of its tendency toward gay panic for cheap laughs, Joey and Ross freak out in the seventh season of Friends after they accidentally fall asleep together on the couch. What happened? Ross screams, before insisting: We fell asleep that is all. The apparently traumatic cuddle is so integral to the episodes arc that the installment is literally called The One With The Nap Partners. While it would be easy to dismiss Friends as a product of its time, many of its contemporaries were well ahead on LGBTQ+ representation from Blanche (Rue McClanahan) learning to embrace her gay brother on The Golden Girls to the groundbreaking same-sex wedding in Roseanne. To its credit, Friends did air a lesbian wedding, between Carol (Jane Sibbett) and Susan (Jessica Hecht), but it primarily served to underscore how uncomfortable Ross was with his ex-wifes new relationship. In addition to notoriously not allowing the newlyweds to kiss in fear of upsetting censors the episode also featured Chandler propositioning a lesbian wedding guest, and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) blurting out, Now Ive seen everything! during the ceremony. --- Edmonton Oilers winning a draft is like giving a homeless person money but knowing they are going to spend it on drugs and alcohol- Xunolix</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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