'Friends' gets slammed by cast member over race issues

Friends star Aisha Tyler is opening up about the lack of diversity in the hit ‘90s sitcom.

Tyler played Charlie Wheeler, the paleontology professor that Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) dated in Friends. Before getting together with Ross, Charlie also dated Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc).

The actress was the only Black woman to have a recurring role in the show, which is now 30-years-old.

In a new interview, the actress said people often called her the “black girl from Friends.”

Per The Independent, she said, “It wasn’t like it was just something that people looked back at later and said, ‘Wait a minute.’ No, at the time, people talked quite a bit about the fact that, for a show that was set in the heart of Manhattan, it really lacked diversity.”

“But we didn’t have social media back then, so it wasn’t the large-scale conversation that it became later,” she added.

She also noted that Schwimmer, who co-directed parts of the show, pushed for diversity.

Adam Goldberg, 53, who played Chandler's temporary roommate Eddie for a few episodes in season two.

This tied into the broader industry idea that 'only white stories sold,' she said.

Tyler shared that she didn’t feel totally represented by her character, which added to the idea that “only white stories sold.”

“That’s just been the attitude in Hollywood for a long time,” she remarked.

Aisha Tyler argued: “They’d say people won’t watch a show with these characters, and now we all know that’s not true. But that perspective still persists and there are still people who will say, well, that movie won’t sell overseas if it has a black lead, and that movie won’t sell in these markets if it has a gay lead.”