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The transphobic jokes Friends creator Marta Kauffman regrets

By Sarabeth Pollock

385848 27: Cast members of NBC's comedy series "Friends." Pictured (l to r): David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Cook, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani and Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay. Episode: "The One Where They All Turn Thirthy." (Photo by Warner Bros. Television)
385848 27: Cast members of NBC's comedy series "Friends." Pictured (l to r): David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Cook, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani and Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay. Episode: "The One Where They All Turn Thirthy." (Photo by Warner Bros. Television) /
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Friends creator Marta Kauffman would do a few things differently as she looks back

One of the biggest challenges with any sort of media that goes out into the world is that it’s a reflection of the time it was created. Friends represents a moment in time at the end of the 1990s and early 2000s when life was different. Creator Marta Kauffman looks back on some of the transphobic jokes in the show with regret and would change them.

Hindsight being what it is, Kauffman reflected on some of the off-color jokes made on Friends that are transphobic. In a 2019 interview with USA Today, she explained that she probably didn’t have a complete grasp on transgender terms the way she does now. “I think we didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then, so I’m not sure if we used the appropriate terms. I don’t know if I would have known those terms back then. I think that’s the biggest one.”

Kauffman referenced jokes about Chandler’s dad and the show’s usage of the derogatory term “hermaphrodite.”

Television and movies are riddled with instances of underrepresented groups being as punch lines or being represented in a negative light. Though Kauffman is correct that transgender terminology is more prevalent today, it doesn’t excuse the use of improper terms. The terms were used and that was a decision writers and producers made, so it’s hard to say that you wouldn’t use them if they were, in fact, used.

What can be taken from this is that being aware and respectful is the way to go moving forward. It’s easy to look back at shows made in the past and realize that they are incendiary; the key is making sure that content is being created across all media that is not inflammatory.

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Kauffman’s revelations in the interview are important as we look to the future of television and movies, because representation does matter and word choice matters, and there is no excuse for jokes made at the expense of protected groups.

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