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One of the creators of the hit series Friends has donated $4m to her alma mater in an apology for the embarrassing whiteness of the show.

Marta Kauffman said she once felt Friends was unfairly singled out for the absence of people of colour, but realised she had been wrong following the civil rights uproar of 2020.

It was after what happened to George Floyd that I began to wrestle with my having bought into systemic racism in ways I was never aware of, Ms Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times.

That was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated. I knew then I needed to course-correct.

Ms Kauffmans has now made a donation to Brandeis University's African and African American studies department that will support a distinguished scholar who is concentrating on the area of peoples and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora.

Ive gotten nothing but love," she said of the reaction to her announcement. "Its been amazing. It surprised me to some extent because I didnt expect the news to go this wide.

Ive gotten a flood of emails and texts and posts that have been nothing but supportive. Ive gotten a lot of Its about time. Not in a mean way. Its just people acknowledging it was long overdue.

Ms Kauffman said the series' failure to include a more diverse cast reflected her internalisation of Americas systematic racism and now sees any criticism as fair.

Ive learned a lot in the last 20 years, she said. Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. Its painful looking at yourself in the mirror. Im embarrassed that I didnt know better 25 years ago. "

Each of the main characters in Friends Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer are white and during its ten-season run, other non-white characters were scarce and any interactions included fleeting.

At the time, producers pushed back at criticism.

But in 2020 Mr Schwimmer said it felt just wrong that there was not more diversity: I really felt like Ross should date other people, women of all races.
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Not trying to be an ass but how can George Floyd be your introduction to racism if you're over 10 years old?

Especially if you lived in New York.

Anyway yeah it always felt weird that everyone in Friends was white and super good looking.

Manhattan is literally like 51% non-Hispanic white. It's full of racial diversity at every corner. Set it in like Saskatchewan like Corner Gas if you want a full white cast.