David Schwimmer has suggested an "all-black or all-Asian" reboot of ‘Friends’ should be made.
The 53-year-old actor – who is best known for playing Ross Geller in the US sitcom – admits he "doesn’t think it’s possible" to revive the programme with his former co-stars, given "everyone’s different career trajectories", but he believes a new version of ‘Friends’ could work.
He said: "I just don’t think it’s possible, given everyone’s different career trajectories. I think everyone feels the same, ‘Why mess with what felt like the right way to end the series?’
"I don’t want to do anything for the money. It would have to make sense creatively and nothing I’ve heard so far presented to us makes sense.
"Maybe there should be an all-black ‘Friends’ or an all-Asian ‘Friends’."
David insists he was "well aware of the lack of diversity" in the show, and he used to campaign "for years" for Ross to date women of colour.
He said: "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.
"It’s interesting also how the show handled the Judaism of the characters.
"I don’t think that was earth-shattering or groundbreaking at all, but I for one was glad that we had at least one episode where it wasn’t just about Christmas.
"It was also Hanukkah and, even though I played the Hanukkah armadillo, I was glad that we at least acknowledged the differences in religious observation."
‘Friends’ has come under fire in recent years after some claimed there were elements of sexism, homophobia and transphobia in the series – which ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 – but David insists he "doesn’t care" about the disapproval, and says people should look at "what the show was trying to do at the time".
He added to the Guardian newspaper: "The truth is also that show was groundbreaking in its time for the way in which it handled so casually sex, protected sex, gay marriage and relationships.
"The pilot of the show was my character’s wife left him for a woman and there was a gay wedding, of my ex and her wife, that I attended.
"I feel that a lot of the problem today in so many areas is that so little is taken in context. You have to look at it from the point of view of what the show was trying to do at the time.
"I’m the first person to say that maybe something was inappropriate or insensitive, but I feel like my barometer was pretty good at that time. I was already really attuned to social issues and issues of equality."
David’s doubts about a possible ‘Friends’ reunion come days after co-creator Marta Kauffman admitted she isn’t sure whether it will ever come to fruition.
She said’: "If it happens, we will certainly be involved in it. But I don’t know.
"It’s complicated. It’s very complicated. It’s everything. It’s a very complicated thing to do."
David starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc in the NBC series.
David Schwimmer suggests ‘all-black or all-Asian’ Friends reboot
