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Video: Was <em>Friends</em> Homophobic?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 1, 2011
Modified Nov 1, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 1, 2011
Modified Nov 1, 2011
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The One Where Someone Makes A Montage Video Of An Old Sitcom! Yep, someone has made a supercut from old episodes of Friends, which they call "a veracious montage" that "sheds new light on homophobic attitudes in contemporary TV culture." But was Friends really homophobic? There was a lesbian character (Ross's ex-wife) and a cross-dressing father (played by Kathleen Turner)! The montage includes clips with quotes like:
- "This was Carol's favorite beer. She always drank it out of the can. I should have known." — Ross on his lesbian ex-wife
- "You're smart, and funny... you just, you have a quality." — on people thinking Chandler is gay
- "I just picked up a message from Emily. She and Susan are going to a poetry reading together. Poetry! Susan's gay. They're being gay together!" — Ross worried about his new girlfriend turning lesbian
If only they had added a "not that there's anything wrong with that!" The video runs a whopping fifty minutes, and Buzzfeed notes that some of the jokes (of which there are clearly a lot) are homophobic, and mostly “no homo” moments between Chandler and Joey. Bitch Magazine previously brought up that there could also be a "whole series of videos, like Misogynistic Friends and Xenophobic Friends," and that "Homophobic Friends [is not an] attempt to ridicule the underlying homophobia, but rather strives to bring this attitude to the viewer’s attention in all of its apparent normality."
Check it out for yourself on YouTube.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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