Friends alum David Schwimmer wants you to know that he has always harbored a very progressive mind-set, even during the early days of his cultural tentpole of a sitcom. In a conversation with The Guardian’s David Smith, the actor spoke reverently of the show’s indestructible afterlife and the ways that it was, in his words, “groundbreaking.” And while its gender politics and attitudes toward sexuality may have hinted at a more forward-thinking era of television, it still had enough documented cases of fatphobia, transphobia, and anti-queer sentiments that have impeded its ability to age favorably in a more socially aware era. Smith notes that when he asked Schwimmer about his take on some of the present-day criticism surrounding Friends, Schwimmer became defensive:
It is the only moment of the interview where Schwimmer appears a little defensive. “I don’t care,” he says, dismissively. “The truth is also that show was groundbreaking in its time for the way in which it handled so casually sex, protected sex, gay marriage and relationships. The pilot of the show was [Schwimmer’s character Ross Geller’s] wife left him for a woman and there was a gay wedding, of my ex and her wife, that I attended.
But it’s the follow-up quote that is the real kicker, truth be told:
“Maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends,” Schwimmer says. “But I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour. One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian American woman, and later I dated African American women. That was a very conscious push on my part.