Zoe Kravitz has criticised the casual homophobia laced throughout popular 1990s TV shows like Friends.
In recent years, Friends has been accused of having "problematic" storylines, with millennial viewers describing them as transphobic, homophobic and sexist.
Kravitz, who stars in new film Caught Stealing, lamented the hit show’s “super homophobic jokes”, telling People: “If you watch Friends now, you're like, 'Whoa, that's...’”
Her co-star Austin Butler was surprised by Kravitz’s comment, asking: “Wow, even in Friends?"
Kravitz responded: “Oh, so much in Friends. Like, things that aren't punchlines are punchlines. It's wild. We can keep that there."
Kravitz said she does have a lot of positive nostalgia for that era and yearns for a revival of the fashion. “All that stuff's so cool – New York City and the grunge,” she said.
Stars of Friends, which ran from 1994 until 2004, have defended the show’s outdated jokes, arguing it was a reflection of the time.
Speaking about what the sitcom would be like if it aired today, Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay, told The Sunday Times in 2020: “Oh, it’d be completely different. It would not be an all-white cast, for sure. I’m not sure what else, but, to me, it should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong.”
She continued: “Also, this show thought it was very progressive. There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together? We had surrogacy too. It was, at the time, progressive.”
Elsewhere, David Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller, suggested to The Guardian in 2020 that a more diverse cast should be considered if it were remade today.
“Maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends,” he said.
“But I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour.
“One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian American woman, and later I dated African American women. That was a very conscious push on my part.”
Kravitz, who starred in The Batman, can currently be seen in Caught Stealing, the latest film from Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky.
She recently received a Primetime Emmy nomination Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Seth Rogen’s Apple TV+ show The Studio.
