Boohoo. Humor has changed over time as it does with literally every generation.

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Several generations of adults found it offensive when it aired.

Why’s it considered offensive?

I'm so tired of old people complaining about comedy evolving. Nobody finds friends offensive. People just have a different type of sense of humor now in days. Get over it.

You mean the same ones that watch it religiously?

There's occasional content (gay jokes come to mind) that probably wouldn't be done today, but not enough to meaningfully alter the dynamic of the show.

There's some gay jokes that haven't aged well.

It’s a few people pointing out that it had an all-white cast and some casual sexism and maybe homophobia I believe. These are all true. It’s a product of it’s time. Most of these people don’t make a huge deal out of it. But it’s good to acknowledge what was done wrong in the past, in order to avoid it in the future. Compared to other stuff, like say American Pie, this isn’t offensive at all. And no you don’t really have to be that careful with comedy now, people are just becoming increasingly aware that comedy at the expense of groups of people is bullying and it’s not okay. There’s a difference between making fun of something and making something funny. It’s not always okay to do the first one. It’s why we tell kids not to make fun of other kids after all. I honestly wish more writers or directors acknowledged how certain things have aged badly in older stuff. It shows personal growth.

Fuck that. Make the comedies like we used to have them and if people want to be offended fuck them. Those are the people likely not buying the shit anyway. Tired of big studios and creatives being scared of this niche audience of pussies.

Really they did? Why did the show be the biggest show ever then?

Lol, this could be said about almost any sitcom from the past 50 years.

Offensive with older folks. My parents told me I couldn't watch it growing up, they thought it was too sexual. I still watched it.

jokes about gay people, transgender people, fat people. Phoebe's brother has a relationship with and marries his high school teacher. Ross as a college professor has a relationship with his student.

You fucking rebel, you.

I think most people understand that older shows are going to have some morally disagreeable content without throwing away the baby with the bathwater. That someone can hear a homophobic or racist joke without instantly turning homophobic or racist. But that's not inflammatory and argument inducing so "I'm so moral because I decry Friends is problematic" is what we mostly end up seeing online

You think that's something? I didn't always wash behind my ears as thoroughly as I was told to.

*edit* Seriously though, the comment about me watching it anyway was more to show that the controversy actual fed it's popularity, not stifled it.

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It’s pretty unreasonable to expect comedy from 20 years ago to still keep up with the social mores of today. Comedy isn’t really made to last, the shows that gen z’ers love today are going to age poorly in 20 years as well, and that’s okay.

> Ross as a college professor has a relationship with his student.

You mean it’s not just frowned upon?

"You have to be very careful with comedy because 20 years after it makes you wildly successful some people might find it problematic."

I don't get what the issue is. This has always been the case with cultural change. There was comedy from the 70s that wouldn't fly in the 90s.

I seem to remember the characters in-universe being fairly cool with it, the only gripe being that Ross was dating someone not named Rachel

THEY WERE ON A BREAK!

Gen-X has reached their geriatric phase of complaining about what can and can’t be made today.

Oh god, Will and Grace.

Jack couldn't stand lesbians and made jokes about them in every other episode that in hindsight were hugely offensive.

Ha I’m quoting Ross after a colleague sees them at the coffee shop and immediately says “You are so fired!”

I would say that all of this could change once every (1st World) person has the ability to generate their own AI entertainment... but AI is woefully censored/biased, so this likely won't be a solution to the "offense taken" problem that so many people with 1st World Problems seem to have.

Good thing we can complain about "offensive" teevee shows on the devices made with minerals extracted by literal child miners in Africa. Black Lives Matter, just not THOSE Black Lives, amirite Reddit?

Gonna need more child slave labor to get a Tesla into every garage and 2 bug casseroles in every pot in America.

I don’t think it’s being very careful, really. A lot of older humor is based on What You Are. It’s simple, easy, and frequent offensive.

It’s harder to write comedy of What You Do, or complicated situational humor. It makes the writers room have to be more creative, but it’s a better approach anyway. I approve.

oh snap, the elusive pre-hipster hipster. was offended before it was cool to be offended

What happened? Another 'shitstorm' of three people on Twitter?

I doubt Jen's hearing from a full cross-section of the generation.

Monica's backstory as a fat girl and Chandler's relationship with his transgender parent would be hard to do humorously now. Other than that I agree, the other possibly offensive plots are mostly b-plots or one off jokes that could be excluded.

Man I was Angel recently and hearing Charisma Carpenters character call her friend a "lesbo" was a wake up call.

There was shit being said in network television during the 1990s-2000s that has essentially been relegated to Alt-Right channels like Rebel News and InfoWars.

I think their opinions are overrepresented. Because "I can take a joke and offensive humor doesn't bother me" isn't worth making posts about so companies don't see it as much even though it's how most people feel.

honestly the new generation seems to actively find reasons to take offense to everything so i wouldnt be too worried

Offensively unfunny...

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Because kids today are indoctrinated morons.

I found it offensive in the 90s because it sucked.

Because that post is full of crap. NOBODY found it offensive back then. The poster is probably a 20 year old Gen Z-er

I opened the whole article hoping I could defend her and that maybe she was just making a point about the cultural climate but not necessarily complaining about it. But many of her quotes are very explicitly complaining about it.

This one stood out also:

“[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.”

You are definitely allowed to do this and there are jokes like this all the time. What is she on about?

I don't know anyone that finds Friends offensive. Go outside and talk to people.

What's wrong with an all white cast? I never complained when the Cosby Show, Martin or Family Matters had all black casts. I loved those shows and was a huge fan. Why is it offensive when there's a white cast? It's just a strong indicator of who the REAL racists are.

A lot of people claim that it was "the times", wich is a pretty lame excuse in my opinion. Nonetheless, I recently rewatched Golden Girls. Well, apparently it was possible in the 80s to be fun and not discriminate against minorities 🤷‍♀️ AND have a full older cast, which makes "the times" excuse even lamer for other shows.

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They made fun of him. It was less "this is unethical" and more "what a dweeb, dating a child."

It's not Gen-Xers, its Millennials and younger who are complaining.

Not like our generation, we were indoctrinated in a slightly different way, which was cool

the only thing I remember people sort of complaining about when it was on is that there wasn't many black people

and then the media made joey getting a black girlfriend in to a big deal

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Not really, I've always thought for myself. I never followed common thinking. Just my own views.

Nothing says hard hitting, independent thinker like “kids these days!”

They're talking about Aniston.

Exactly!

She's always complaining about something but I do think a lot of people in the industry agree with her. In fact I would say she's probably a mouthpiece for people in Hollywood who low-key don't like the way the film and some aspects of the TV industry have changed. Didn't Steve Carrell say the same thing about The Office?

Oh, but she's an outlier, she is a Hollywood product after all. Most of them are wackos. Thanks for clarification though.

It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. Older shows with mild homophobia and sexism have no need to excuse themselves.

F whoever that gets offended

Respectfully, you have misunderstood both the comment you replied to and my clarification. They didn't say Aniston/Gen X are complaining about offensive content, but about their own older content being considered offensive by younger audiences.

lots of people have said the same thing about the office

It's okay, everyone's time comes.

Which is what makes it such an accurate show — there are gay people who say awful things.

I don't consider it offensive as much as mean and not funny. It's not enjoyable to watch now.

I was offended that I couldn't turn around without seeing something to do with the damn show, but to be fair I was kind of an edgelord that hated most of the mainstream stuff of the day. Have since watched the show and it is generally funny.

The dickhead hasn't talked to any of us in real life

Fat Monica definitely wouldn't happen now!

“I too am a love machine… huh💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼”

Maybe she hates the bigot being the butt of the joke lol

If there is an audience there studios really don't care

Yup just like how blackface used to be hilarious though this is an obviously extreme example

Nothing really. It just sort of stands out compared to a lot of stuff today. It also stands out because there were barely any secondary non-white characters. Like I mean, there were a few, but idk statistically speaking it does seem weird that there so few in one of the most multicultural cities in the world. All I can remember are two girlfriends of Ross. One in the early seasons and one in the later seasons.

Bring back our lovable bigots!

But in all seriousness, that quote stood out as frustrating because she is literally describing what people want out of comedy now. People who talk about how “punching down” is bad would LOVE more jokes making fun of bigots. So it’s like she heard the complaints but didn’t really hear what people are saying and instead twisted it into making her and other comedians into victims. It makes her look incredibly out-of-touch which would track with her wealth and decades of success.

I cringe at people cringing over stuff from 90s. People with today's eyes condemn it with a passion and that's just bullshit. Things evolve but people apologizing for past work is too much. If they said something back then off screen then its not acceptable. But it's just a toxic debate.

I just hate that people condemn what was accepted back then as if it was still used then. Back then gay jokes were said like hello, now nobody does because they read the lay of the land. But still bitching about the back then stuff today is pointless because it doesn't happen anymore and people learned from it.

Also people with present day eyes and current climate judge stuff from the past and want it to be erased forever. Its stupidity at the highest form.

Let it be it's own world because current day has evolved. Bitching over the past entertainment form is a waste of energy. Forcing people to apologize for what was accepted back then is too extreme.

I never saw Friends because it doesn't jump at me. Maybe if I got into it I'd like it.. And also because I bet stuff has gotten cut and isn't exactly as it aired.

I just feel that the current climate was dictated by a large minority and there was no Memo or vote. You just get in trouble because the rules changed and you have to accept the new boundaries.

I resemble this remark.

it's not what she says, it's what she is not saying. Awesome class act by Jennifer

The all white cast complaint is dumb. If you walked into any highschool even today in America right now and just started filming the lunch cliques/social groups you’d notice they’re pretty much all united by race. Asians hang out with Asians, Mexicans with Mexicans, blacks with blacks etc. it’s just natural to bond with people you’re similar to. Sure there might be the occasional token race peppered in somewhere but it’s rare. Real life isn’t like a college brochure a lot of the times.

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Lesbo wasn't considered offensive back then. There are a lot of words that started off inoffensive, but then became considered offensive over time. A century ago "retarded" was considered an actual medical term, and was used in textbooks (it literally means "slow"). Now its very offensive.

It makes me wonder what things will be like when the kids of the "offended" generation come of age. How will they rebel against their parents?

That's the thing. I don't think Friends would be made any more or less careful today than it was in the '90s. Even then, there were absolutely topics they weren't going to touch or jokes they couldn't make for fear of backlash. Racial jokes that would've been perfectly acceptable a couple decades ago would've had the NAACP up in arms (rightfully) and sponsors pulling out. I'd be extremely surprised if they didn't have a few jokes over the course of the show where there was a debate if it'd be okay to have in the script or not and concern over how audiences would react.

People act like everyone is so sensitive and that "comedy is dead!" now, but the reality is we're just sensitive about different things as understanding and acceptance changes. There have never been jokes that are not seen as crossing a line to some of the audience, and that's a large part of the reason networks have Standards and Practices departments. It's just that whatever is the group that is the common butt of jokes ceases to be once people realize they're, you know, people with feelings, and the people who told those jokes don't want to move on and find something new to joke about, so they whine (sometimes on their sold out comedy tours) instead of finding new material.

And, of course, the whole "comedy is dead" thing is complete nonsense, something provable given how much comedy is readily available on every major streaming platform, written by talented individuals who know how to still be funny even if certain topics become taboo.

I've always thought it is important to have that material around to remind us of where we've been and how far we've come. There's value in having those reminders. Sanitizing the past just makes it easy to repeat those mistakes. It also makes it easier for people to stand in the way of progress when the progress made in the past is erased.

Through the 80s at least! There's a fantastic episode of the 80s twilight zone by George RR Martin that has a lot of moments land strangely now because of how they're using the word as a medical term. The infamous quantum leap reveal also comes to mind. Though I'm sure the word was already being used as an insult at the time, there simply wasn't another word for it.

Between this and some of the cast members of The Office, saying this about their show and looking at some of the shows are still on going like Family Guy, Always Sunny, Rick & Morty etc.

I'm very much convinced none of these actors, have the slightest clue what they are talking about and just want to sound progressive.

Because I'll be honest, I have never seen a single person actually say Friends or The Office was offensive, if anything it feels like they are some of the tamer sitcoms both back in the day and now.

Better than Gen-Z complaining about what can and can't be made yesterday

IDK, New Girl seemed to do the "i used to be a fat person" storyline with Schmidt, and nobody ever seemed to care lol

Honestly I think the vast majority of those who dont like it just finds it boring. I won't say nobody finds it offensive or that there isn't stuff that is offensive about it, but I think the vast majority doesn't just doesn't like it.

I think what the issue is that on social media everyone's comments can be elevated. 1 person is offended and there's 10,000 telling them how dumb they are. Then 50 articles are written about how it's a controversy and cancel culture and bullshit, and that spawns more debate and people calling it stupid. If that happened in the 90s, you just ignored the guy ranting and that was the end. If a big enough group came together like the parent television council, it would gain some media attention, but not even close to what we get now when 1 person complains online

Plus I'll add that it's so easy to blow it out of proportion too. Criticizing the show with a modern lens can be useful to identify what things have changed and maybe what things will change for the future. Saying the trans jokes for example are bad doesn't mean the show is being "cancelled" it just means it isn't a thing that should continue. But you take someone who doesn't understand that nuance or doesn't want to, and they can strip it away and argue against it like people are protesting outside the WBD headquarters demanding for it to be removed and the masters deleted

Oh really?

The parent television council was huge in the 90s and early 2000s, and friends was among one of its favorites to hate

Because these days, even comedies aren’t allowed to have plot lines that aren’t approved by the guardians of “correct”.

In the 80’s, the Right were the guardians of Politically Correct. Now it’s the Left’s turn. The more things change…

They weren't very humorous back then though. I was a dumb kid and didn't take care about much but even I know a lot of that show's humor was lazy trash when it aired.

It couldn't be done that way today as easily because there are better and funnier writers on other shows that would probably get picked up or renewed instead. People aren't more fragile when you peel away from rando Twitter accounts. People just have more options now.

LMAO, are you kidding me? I see teenagers everywhere wearing Friends t-shirts. That show is popular as fuck with whatever generation we're up to now.

I tell you what, there's no way Beavis and Butthead would be made toda....ahhh, shit...

Well, I'll watch it, but this is gonna be lame as hell....oh damn, this is actually pretty fucking funny...

If there is one thing that will never get old, it's toilet humor

Who cares. You can’t smile without offending someone. Just make a good show and the people that don’t like it won’t watch. But if you try to make a show that doesn’t offend anyone it’s almost guaranteed to be unwatchable.

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Also, Friends famously didn't do that.

It was a notably stale, politically correct show by 90s standards, which is exactly why it feels so inappropriate today.

When 95% of your jokes are just about six likeable randos hanging out and getting into relatable mishaps like "lifting a sofa to the next floor is hard", or "I just bought a midlife crisis car", then the rest were "My father is a woman I'm so traumatized by that", and "My ex-wife is a lesbian that's so emasculating to me" will instantly feel like further examples of that, where we were meant to laugh with the cast about their sympathetic relatable human foibies.

The Parents Television Council is a socially reactionary conservative group.

They are coming from an entirely different frame of reference to contemporary progressives who might object to Friends. Liberals and progressives in the 90s did not find it offensive.

Yes! I thought this too and didn’t even get to it. The “controversial” jokes in Friends were not about laughing at bigots, that’s a weird attempt at a historical rewrite. And I don’t really have an issue with Friends at all myself, it’s just dated.

Fat men are fair game still. Can’t say anything bad about fat women though, see Lizzo for reference.

Lizzo is a real life person, Schmidt and Monica are fictional characters.

Idk, it’s weird that you wanna be mean to fat women. Do you man

I'm sure some did hate the constant trans jokes at times, they just didn't have social media be as big of a platform to share.

But thats not the point. The person said nobody found it offensive back then. I provided people who found it offensive. They were wrong. We weren't talking what groups found it offensive

Really? Most of your posts are in the Marvel subreddit.

You’re definitely a free-thinker, maybe even an original?

Well sure, a small amount of people did but not like now

Its still a small amount of people. We just hear it more because with social media you can hear the opinions of a random person you've never met and isn't famous in any way. A lot of these "people find it offensive now" is like 5 people on Twitter finding it offensive and 10,000 others dunking on them for it. Back in the day, 5 random people find it offensive, and the extent that their opinion travels is a hearty debate with friends at a dinner party. Now it travels the world

I don't think he meant to imply that literally no-one took offence, but Friends is a product of its time and its expressed attitudes were going to be mainstream then.

I'm saying about the same number of people are taking offense today vs then, the only difference is social media. Some may discuss how opinions have changed and why things said then may not be popular opinions now, but thats not taking offense, that's just discussing friends from a modern lens.

No reason to believe your claims

Both those stories could be done today, but with changes so that the storylines are fleshed out to be more than big punchlines.

Back when "Law & Order" was still on TNT, I caught an airing of an episode where a character dropped the N-word, was a bit jarring to hear that on what was originally a network broadcast show.

I only started watching Friends after My So Called Life was cancelled - that had been my Thursday night show in Fall 1994.

I think the problem is that there's a lot of easily triggered violent bigots out there, and they'll start send those death threats after they hear Tucker Carlson complain about the joke.

All I can say is look up some of your favorite "dumb" controversies over the past decade or so. Tan suit Obama? Said by Sean Hannity once. Starbucks coffee cups not having snowflakes? Said by literally 1 random person. Seeing Red shouldve focused on 9/11? 1 person on YouTube that didn't even really have many subscribers. We had an entire week it felt like during the pandemic discussing if Topanga's husband found shrimp tails in his cereal. That's the world we live in with social media, little things blow up.

And if you are going to ignore that social media blows up unpopular opinions, you can't honestly accept that there were less offended people back in the day. That claim should be equally dismissed

Do you think social attitudes have remained stagnant in the last 20 years?

Of course I don't. But "I'm offended friends is a product of its time" is not a commonly held opinion. You can acknowledge that social attitudes have changed without being upset that the show was made. Hell you can even enjoy the show but ultimately recognize that this isn't the current opinion.

I love boy meets world. There's a lot of fun stuff that holds up just as good as when it was made. Theres a lot of stuff that is a product of its time. I listen to the rewatch pod the cast does. They do a great job of breaking down the show, and they're not really ever offended by it. There's a very powerful scene in season 1 where a racial slur is used. Probably wouldn't be accepted today. They questioned why looking back that one was used when another one was cut earlier in the episode. But they weren't offended and they acknowledge it was a powerful scene. Just that it wouldn't be made today

It’s the hypocrisy of the double standard. I didn’t say I want to be mean to her, but I don’t think her morbid obesity should be cheered or celebrated either. Hell when she said she was going to go on a diet a year or two ago, she got huge backlash for being “fatphobic” or other such nonsense, just for trying to get healthier.

Being fat is a result of poor food and exercise choices 99% of the time. Yes I know there are fringe cases where there is a medical problem or someone with a disability but the vast majority of people are just lazy and overeat garbage food. It should not be celebrated and promoted because it normalizes it which causes a ton of problems for society, along with severely straining the healthcare system.

Friends was called out during it's actual run. See: MadTV's excellent skit about not having any black cast members.

Lizzo is celebrated and promoted because she’s an amazing performer, not because of her weight

Fucking them kids!