Friends star has slammed the iconic show for its 'lack of diversity'

Aisha Tyler, who starred in Season nine of Friends as Ross Gellar's girlfriend, has spoken out about her experience on it . She was the only black actress to have a recurring role.

It was one of the most loved shows of a generation, now a Friends actor has hit out at the show's 'lack of diversity' after she joined the cast as Ross Gellar's girlfriend.

Aisha Tyler, who starred in Season 9 of the popular sitcom in 2003, has spoken out about her experience on it . She was the only black actress to have a recurring role.

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Tyler, who played a paleontologist Charlie Wheeler opposite Ross, played by David Schwimmer, opened up about how the predominantly white cast was a topic of discussion at the time. The actress, 53, who also dated Joey Tribbiani in the show, said: "It wasn't like it was just something that people looked back at later and said: "Wait a minute."

She told The Independent: "No, at the time, people talked quite a bit about the fact that, for a show that was set in the heart of Manhattan , it really lacked diversity."

Aisha shared that David Schwimmer was also doing his best to try to get more diversity in the show.

She also reflected fondly on the friendships she made on the set, including the one she had with the late Matthew Perry, who played the charming Chandler Bing. Friends has faced criticism for being non-inclusive, racist, and homophobic.

Jennifer Aniston, 55, who played Rachel Green in the iconic sitcom, expressed her thoughts to Entertainment Weekly: "There's a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of Friends and find them offensive. We should have thought it through, but I don't think there was a sensitivity like there is now."

In addition to Friends, Tyler revealed that she has been rejected for a role because a black character had already been cast. While she believes that a lot of progress has been made in the TV industry, she is still encouraging more women, people of colour and other marginalized groups to 'get behind the camera and tell their stories.'She added: "But we didn't have social media back then, so it wasn't the large-scale conversation that it became later."

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