Zoë Kravitz loved embracing ’90s culture in her new film Caught Stealing, but one thing she doesn’t miss from the decade is the casual homophobia in mainstream sitcoms, including Friends.
The Big Little Lies alum stars alongside Austin Butler in the Darren Aronofsky crime thriller, which is set in New York City in 1998. In a recent interview with People, Kravitz and Butler spoke about their love for the 1990s, particularly the fashion and technology of the era.
“[I’m] really nostalgic for that time,” Kravitz told the outlet. “Then also the fashion, all that stuff’s so cool. New York City and the grunge.”
Elvis star Butler echoed those sentiments, saying, “Even just being in the apartment [on set] and seeing the Nintendo 64 on top of the TV. We had the GoldenEye, I saw that.”
However, one thing Kravitz said can stay in the ’90s is “super homophobic jokes,” noting, “If you watch Friends now, you’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s…’”
A shocked Butler interrupted, saying, “Wow, even in Friends?”
“Oh, so much in Friends,” Kravitz replied. “Like, things that aren’t punchlines are punchlines. It’s wild. So maybe that? We can keep that there.”
NBC / Warner Bros. / Everett Collection
Friends, which ran from 1994 until 2004, is one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, and continues to be streamed to this day. However, the show has faced criticism for some of its dated jokes and references, especially when it comes to using homophobia as a punchline.
In particular, the lesbian relationship between Ross’ (David Schwimmer) ex-wife Carol (Jane Sibbett) and Susan (Jessica Hecht) was a constant butt of jokes between the core characters. Likewise, Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) trans parent, played by Kathleen Turner, was frequently a source of comedy on the show.
Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman has commented on these issues in the past, acknowledging that they made mistakes.
“We kept referring to her as Chandler’s father, even though Chandler’s father was trans,” Kauffman said on the BBC World Service podcast The Conversation in 2022. “Pronouns were not yet something that I understood… So we didn’t refer to that character as she. That was a mistake.”
However, others have defended the show, including Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay, who argued the show was “progressive” for its time.
“Oh, it’d be completely different. It would not be an all-white cast, for sure,” Kudrow told The Sunday Times in 2020 when asked what would be different about the show if it aired today. “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 added, “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.”