In the last recent years, Friends has been criticized by fans for its lack of diversity, as well as ripping off Living Single — a hit Fox sitcom featuring an all-black cast.
The latter ran from 1993 to 1998, while its NBC counterpart came out in 1994 and lasted until 2004.
Living Single followed the lives of male and single roommates played by Queen Latifah (Khadijah), Kim Fields (Regine), Kim Cole (Synclaire), Erika Alexander (Maxine), John Henton (Overton), and TC Carson (Kyle).
It’s not that far from the interconnected storylines of Ross, Rachel, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, and Chandler — respectively played by still-real-life-friends: David Schwimmer , Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc ,Courteney Cox , and the late Matthew Perry .
But when fans urged Aniston and Schwimmer to credit Living Single for inspiring their breakout show, the actors reacted in a way that only reaffirmed the former’s comments about Friends being “offensive”.
Jennifer Aniston Downplayed ‘Friends’ Being “Offensive” By Forgetting About Its ‘Living Single’ Influence
In 2023, Aniston talked about Friends being “offensive” to younger fans. Speaking to AFP (via Vanity Fair), she said “comedy has evolved” and that “now, it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life.”
She added that “[in the past] you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh — that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were. And now we’re not allowed to do that.” But The Morning Show star drew flak when she brought up that “there’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of Friends and find them offensive.”
The actress explained: “There were things that were never intentional and others… well, we should have thought it through — but I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now.”
Aniston went on to say that “everybody needs funny! The world needs humor! We can’t take ourselves too seriously. Especially in the United States. Everyone is far too divided.” Fans reacted by saying the real reason Friends is offensive is that it “stole” Living Single. One wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “The main thing that’s offensive about Friends is that it was a direct rip-off of Living Single (a MUCH funnier program).”
Another X user noted: “It’s crazy that people don’t know Friends was a direct copy of Living Single, like the exact same show concept. 6 adult friends living together, navigating life. Just swap the black cast for an all-white cast. Friends got more promotion/popularity, Living Single got cancelled.”
Lisa Kudrow once said that if Friends got a reboot, “it would not be an all-white cast.”
David Schwimmer Implied ‘Living Single’ Didn’t Exist In Saying He “Doesn’t Care” That ‘Friends’ Lacked Diversity
Back in 2020, Schwimmer said he “doesn’t care” about Friends being slammed for lacking diversity. “I don’t care,” he told The Guardian. “That show was groundbreaking in its time for the way in which it handled so casually sex, protected sex, gay marriage and relationships. You have to look at it from the point of view of what the show was trying to do at the time.”
He added that he’s “the first person to say that maybe something was inappropriate or insensitive, but I feel like my barometer was pretty good at that time. I was already really attuned to social issues and issues of equality.”
He ultimately sparked backlash when he said: “Maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends. But I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of color. 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.”
Alexander of Living Single responded to Schwimmer’s disregard for the existence of their show before Friends. “Hey @DavidSchwimmer @FriendsTV, r u seriously telling me you’ve never heard of #LivingSingle?” she wrote on X. “We invented the template. Yr welcome, bro. ;)” The Friends alum responded with a lengthy apology to Alexander.
“Hi Erika. As you know, I was asked recently in an interview for The Guardian how I felt (for the thousandth time) about a reboot of Friends immediately following a conversation about diversity on the show, and so offered up other possibilities for a reimagining of the show today,” he explained.
Schwimmer then clarified: “I didn’t mean to imply Living Single hadn’t existed or indeed hadn’t come before Friends, which I knew it had. Please remember in an interview quotes are often pieced together and taken out of context, and then these quotes are repurposed in other articles by other people who are trying to be provocative.”
ThePeople v. O.J. Simpson star went on to say that he’s “a fan of Living Single, and was not implying Friends was the first of its kind.” The actor also revealed the main inspiration of friends, saying, “To my knowledge, Friends (which came out a year later) was inspired by [series creators] Marta [Kaufmann] & David [Crane]’s own lives and circle of friends living in NY in their twenties. If it was based on Living Single you’d have to ask them.”
However, Schwimmer addressed the possibility that Living Single’s success led to Friends. “It’s entirely possible that Warner Brothers and NBC, encouraged by the success of Living Single, gave the Friends pilot a green light,” he said. “I honestly don’t know, but seems likely! If that’s the case, we are all indebted to Living Single for paving the way. In any event, if my quote was taken out of context, it’s hardly in my control. I assure you I meant no disrespect […] David.”
Here’s what the stars and execs of Living Single told Los Angeles Times about the Friends competition in 1996:
| Kim Fields | The “rip-off” comparisons: “But the minute they start referring to us as ‘Black Friends,’ that’s when I’ll go off. It’s better to call them the ‘White Living Single.'” |
| Erika Alexander | “Friends is a really good sample of Living Single.” |
| Kim Coles | Appreciating the quality of Friends: “When I watch it, I laugh. It’s very well done.” |
| Queen Latifah | Friends‘ bigger billboard: “It just pisses me off every time I see that Friends billboard and the little piece of our billboard. I mean how much more of a push do they need?” |
| Yvette Bowser (creator and executive producer of Living Single) | Not getting the same promotion from Warner Bros.: “It’s disappointing that we have never gotten that kind of push that Friends has had. I have issues with the studio and the network over the promotion of this show.” |
| David Janollari (executive vice president of creative affairs for Warner Bros. Television) | Denying the lack of promotion for Living Single: “Both shows have different tones and different attitudes, and are about different things… I wish Living Single was not scheduled against Friends.” |
Former NBC Showrunner Developed ‘Friends’ After Saying He Wished He’d Owned ‘Living Single’
In 2017, Queen Latifah told Andy Cohen’s Watch What happens Live that in 1993, former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield was asked what show he wished he’d picked up. “And he said, Living Single,“ the rapper-turned-actor recalled. Cohen asked, “Wow, and he did the white version?” to which Queen Latifah said, “They created Friends. Well, Friends was so good, so it wasn’t like we hated on it. But I mean, it was just like….”
The Girls Trip star shared the story after Cohen asked him about a Living Single reboot, and her co-guest Jason Sudeikis quipped, “I thought Friends was the reboot,” to which Queen Latifah said, “Oh, you know about that too.”
In 2019, the actress’ former co-star, Henton said he was “mad” about Friends not crediting Living Single. “I was mad because we didn’t get any credit for it,” he told Hype. “We got no acknowledgment, that’s what bothered me the most. It was too similar. It was six Black folks living in New York City versus six white folks living in New York City … they say Friends is the most creative show in the world but Yvette [Bowser] (show creator) didn’t get that credit.”
Carson—who was “fired” from Living Single—said that Friends was disrespectful to their work. “In a lot of ways [we were fighting for the respect] we were getting less than [the other shows]. And then they created Friends and gave them everything and both shows were Warners Brothers shows on Warner Brothers’ lots.”
“To be on our lot and to watch that was really kind of a slap in the face.”
As for Living Single‘s legacy, Henton remains optimistic. “Our work stands the test of time … We’re doing great in syndication,” he said. The show This Is Us referenced Living Single. I thought it was awesome, the fact that 26 years later people are still talking about us.” As Alexander once told Blavity (via 34th street), the sitcom contributed to a much-needed representation in the media at that time.
“Representation matters,” she said. “There are people who have come up to me who are in positions of power, whether they are politicians or lawyers that saw Max and Kyle and Khadijah, and saw themselves in those positions.”
