Video: Was Friends Homophobic?

The One Where Someone Makes A Montage Video Of An Old Sitcom! Yep, someone has made a supercut from old episodes of Friends, which they call "a veracious montage" that "sheds new light on homophobic attitudes in contemporary TV culture." But was Friends really homophobic? There was a lesbian character (Ross's ex-wife) and a cross-dressing father (played by Kathleen Turner)! The montage includes clips with quotes like:

"This was Carol's favorite beer. She always drank it out of the can. I should have known." — Ross on his lesbian ex-wife
"You're smart, and funny... you just, you have a quality." — on people thinking Chandler is gay
"I just picked up a message from Emily. She and Susan are going to a poetry reading together. Poetry! Susan's gay. They're being gay together!" — Ross worried about his new girlfriend turning lesbian

If only they had added a "not that there's anything wrong with that!" The video runs a whopping fifty minutes, and Buzzfeed notes that some of the jokes (of which there are clearly a lot) are homophobic, and mostly “no homo” moments between Chandler and Joey. Bitch Magazine previously brought up that there could also be a "whole series of videos, like Misogynistic Friends and Xenophobic Friends," and that "Homophobic Friends [is not an] attempt to ridicule the underlying homophobia, but rather strives to bring this attitude to the viewer’s attention in all of its apparent normality."

Check it out for yourself on YouTube.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on November 1, 2011 3:03 PM

Comments [rss]

chee1rs

who cares ?

Dennis sinneD

Excuse me, I meant Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan.

Dennis sinneD

Friends was the high fructose corn syrup of the gentrification sweeteners of the East Village and Lower Manhattan--remember where it is set.

Dennis sinneD

Look, the truth is that Friends was intelligentiphobic, and its audience was misanthropic-masochist.

Gothamist_Cynic

Friends was racist. Living in NYC they didn't even have one non-white friend?

babsmcgee

New York is still pretty socially segregated so I'm assuming it was this way in the '90s too. I had way more non-white friends when I was living in California than I do now in NYC.

Guest

I gotta say, I completely agree. I had MANY more "ethnic" friends when I lived in Georgia and Florida than I do here.

Peanut_Butter

haha speaking of "ethnic", I love to refer to middle America caucasians as "non-ethnic white people" cause they've had their old-country ways and accents assimilated out of them.

HughGass

I've been here 16 years, I have no non-white friends either. I work in finance, I should have an Asian friend or two.

Peanut_Butter

Troll the IT dept.

cr17

Or at least one black guy they could all agree on:

http://www.theonion.com/articl...

schmeep

Next up on Gothamist: Was Small Wonder Edie McClurg-phobic?

michelalano

1. Typical lesbian joke, still in use today in various forms.
2. Someone referring to someone as smart, funny with a quality is homophobic?
3. Ross was always whining about something (especially his relationships) and he's just whining about the possibility that his WIFE might be leaving him for a WOMAN. This isn't homophobic, this is traumatic.

And finally, this was the '90's. What do you expect? People are barely ok with seeing gay people on TV now.

ktinnyc

You're writing about a show that ended seven years ago?!

How about that Bill Clinton or should I can him Slick Willy? waka waka

jibbly

No, the show ended 13 years ago and lived on as "zombie Friends" for the next 6. It died when Ross and Rachael broke up for like the 10th time.

Jen Chung

OMG, I can't believe people still talk about I Love Lucy—that showed is like 100 yrs old.

ktinnyc

If people are talking about I Love Lucy it's because it was a funny, innovative show that introduced the three camera shoot and showed a mix raced couple. People aren't asking if Ricky was a misogenist because he didn't want to put Lucy in the show.