Published on 07:57 PM, March 30, 2023

A whole generation of kids find ‘Friends’ offensive: Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston from 'Friends.' Photo: Collected

Jennifer Aniston believes that some of the humour in "Friends" will be deemed inappropriate by younger audiences. The NBC sitcom starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer, ran from 1994 to 2004 and was considered one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

"Friends", like many other comedies, has been subjected to a cultural re-examination in recent years, with modern viewers questioning themes such as homophobia, sexism, and the cast's lack of diversity.

"There's a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back and finding episodes of 'Friend' offensive," said Aniston while promoting her upcoming Netflix comedy, "Murder Mystery 2" with Adam Sandler.

The actress revealed that while some of it was not intentional; others they could have thought about more carefully.

"Somethings were never intentional, and others we should have thought about it more, but I don't think there was as much sensitivity as there is now," Aniston added.

"Comedy and movies have evolved. Now, it's a little tricky, because you have to be very careful, which makes it really difficult for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves and life. Everyone requires amusement! The world requires humour! We can't be too serious about ourselves," said the actress.

Marta Kauffman, the show's creator, recently stated that she was 'embarrassed' by the show's lack of diversity and pledged USD 4 million to fund an endowed chair at Brandeis University's African and African American Studies department.

Aniston is the latest celebrity to weigh in on the evolution of comedy.

In a recent interview, Rowan Atkinson stated that, "The job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential. Every joke has a target. That's the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is made to look ridiculous."