Actor Stephen Park says he encountered a “toxic environment” when he guest starred on “Friends,” even witnessing a crew member using racist remarks.
The 62-year-old “Mickey 17” actor opened up about the experience on a recent episode of “Boy Meets World” rewatch podcast, “Pod Meets World.”
Referring to the 1999 open letter Park penned about his “disappointing” time on “a very massive sitcom,” the actor promptly identified “Friends” as the show in question.
“It was at the time for me, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment and this racist AD calling… James Hong was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and he was calling him … and essentially saying, ‘Where the f–k is the Oriental guy?’ Get the Oriental guy,’” recalled Park, who appeared on two episodes of the hit comedy.
The “In Living Color” alum subsequently reached out to the Screen Actors Guild, which advised him to write an article to the Los Angeles Times.
Inspired by the mission statement at the start of 1996’s “Jerry Maguire,” Park penned one “to Hollywood, because this is bigger than this show.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened. But this is the environment where this is business as usual in 1997. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it,” said Park.
Though the Times interviewed him, the outlet “never printed” the mission statement, which prompted Park to just send it to his email contacts, urging those who felt “moved” to forward it along.
“Within a week, I was getting responses from all across the country that were asking permission to print it,” he recalled. “It went viral before viral was even a word.”
“Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman has, in recent years, apologized for the lack of diversity in the NBC staple. In 2022, she donated $4 million to establish the Marta F. Kauffman ’78 Professorship in African and African American studies at her alma mater Brandeis University.