'Friends' Creator Marta Kauffman Tears Up While Confessing She 'Didn't Do Enough' For Diversity

Marta Kauffman is reflecting on her past mistakes of not being diverse enough on her hit shows and in her career.

The Friends and Grace and Frankie co-creator opened up during the virtual 2020 ATX Festival about not doing enough.

“I wish I knew then what I know today,” Marta shared, while getting tearing up. “Sorry, I just wish I knew then what I know now. I would’ve made very different decisions.”

She continued, “I mean we’ve always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn’t do enough and now all I can think about is what can I do? What can I do differently? How can I run my show in a new way? And that’s something I not only wish I knew when I started showrunning, but I wish I knew all the way up through last year.”

During the same panel, Julie Plec, who was the showrunner for The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, recognized she was also part of the problem.

“That has been the hardest pill for me to swallow, is that I’m part of that group,” she shared.

Lisa Kudrow recently opened up about Friends’ lack of diversity on the show, and David Schwimmer also shared that he campaigned for his character Ross to date women of color.