You would have a hard time finding somebody who was not familiar with the sitcom, Friends. It was one of the most famous and loved sitcoms of all time and everyone who played a part in it became famous.
This included one of the stars, but one who didn’t come along until the ninth season. Aisha Tyler became famous for the part she played in the show as Charlie Wheeler in the ninth and 10th seasons.
She was well known for a number of reasons. Not only was she one of the few black cast members who appeared on the sitcom, but she also was the only black actress who would continue to come back again. She played in 10 episodes altogether.
At first, she appeared on the show because she was dating Joey but Charlie ends up going out with Ross eventually.
As time went by, more and more people became aware of the fact that Friends did not have much diversity associated with it. Many people criticized the lack of people of color that were on the show, and this includes the co-creator, Marta Kaufman.
Tyler is also now talking about being the star in a show that was primarily cast with white people. She said that the diversity problem was not unnoticed and it was even talked about at the time.
She said: “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 also said how common it was for her to hear people referring to her as the ‘black girl from Friends’ at the time.
Although the show was lacking diversity, there were some who were pushing for it. This included Schwimmer, whom she referred to as ‘wonderful.’ In the end, she said the Friends was a reflection of the belief within the industry that ‘only white stories sold.’
She went on to say: “I mean, that’s just been the attitude in Hollywood for a long time.
“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.”