Gabrielle Union Felt Disrespected When She Appeared on ‘Friends’
Gabrielle Union added a new face to the hit TV series Friends when she made a guest appearance on the sitcom. However, she felt she wasn’t treated in a way an actor of her caliber deserved to be.
Gabrielle Union once shared what her time on ‘Friends’ was really like
Union made a bit of history when she first appeared on Friends. She was the first African American actor to appear on the show, which she featured in after being on another television series.
“City Of Angels got cancelled that Monday and on Tuesday I got the call to see if I’d be willing to do friends. To me it was just another check,” Union once said according to Black Film.
While on set, Union went on to assert that she wasn’t intimidated by the cast’s legacy or its makeup in the slightest. It seemed to be a job she was able to coast through.
“To me it was just another check,” Union added. “It was such an easy job because the show is such a well-oiled machine. I didn’t think about the pressure at the time. I’m always professional and I’m always careful not to make a nuisance of myself. Because of the environment I was raised in, I’m used to being the only black person in an all-white environment. It was four months later that there was this big to do about never having a black character on Friends.”
But it was later revealed that there were a few issues Union had with the long-running series. Despite her pedigree as an actor, Union claimed she was talked to like she was still a newcomer And it was an interaction that rubbed the Bring It On star the wrong way.
“That dual consciousness though is what prepares me to then do an episode of Friends after being on City of Angels,” she once said according to Blavity. “When they’re like, ‘Nikki or Gabby, do you know what a mark is?’ Yeah, I’m an actor. Didn’t have to audition for this job, because I was just on a hit show on CBS.”
Gabrielle Union fans felt her ‘Friends’ treatment was a race issue
Union’s comments over her Friends experience caused a lot of backlash among some of the actor’s fans, One social media user posted, “They disrespected GABRIELLE UNION??? Yet another reason why Friends is bad, and if you like Friends please understand that I respect you less.” Another user felt there was an underlying element of racism in producers’ behavior towards Union.
Friends has faced criticisms regarding its diversity before, as some have felt the show’s cast wasn’t representative of New York’s culture. Noting the time period that Friends was set in, however, show producer Kevin Bright asserted he was pulling from his own experiences when casting the show.
“It’s important for today’s shows to be reflective of the ways society truly is,” Bright said. “But for our experience, the three of us, that may have been our experience when we were young and in New York. But we didn’t intend to have an all-white cast. That was not the goal, either.”
Bright further asserted that he didn’t see race when casting the show, just chemistry. In the end, he had no regrets about casting the actors he did.
But for Union, diversity in the entertainment industry has been a recurring concern throughout her career. In the past, it affected how she was treated and the types of film roles she was being offered.
“When I first started acting, I was always cast as the sassy, asexual black best friend. My peers were shoved into similar, limiting boxes, as there weren’t a lot of opportunities for actors of color. The available roles were oftentimes racist, sexist or woefully underdeveloped. I would read certain scripts and think, You can’t be serious,” she wrote in a 2018 Time piece. “When I first started acting, I was always cast as the sassy, asexual black best friend. My peers were shoved into similar, limiting boxes, as there weren’t a lot of opportunities for actors of color.
The Bad Boys star noted that there’s been significant progress made when it comes to showcasing diversity in films, but still not enough. Given her comments regarding Friends, she might’ve believed the beloved sitcom was a part of the problem.
