‘Friends’ Star Jennifer Aniston Says Younger Generations Find the Hit Show Offensive

(L–R) Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, and David Schwimmer, stars of the TV show “Friends,” pose with their award at the 26th People's Choice Awards in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2000. (Lucy Nicholson/AFP via Getty Images)

Actress Jennifer Aniston is reflecting on how today’s younger generations would criticize her hit ‘90s TV show “Friends.”

Aniston, 54, described how “comedy has evolved” during an interview with AFP.

Aniston was in Paris promoting her upcoming Netflix film “Murder Mystery 2” with co-star Adam Sandler.

The actress acknowledged that there’s a new audience of people who are discovering “Friends” for the first time due to streaming services like Hulu.

“There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of ‘Friends’ and find them offensive,” Aniston said.

Actress Jennifer Aniston accepts the awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards show at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 19, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The series aired from 1994 to 2004.

“There were things that were never intentional and others ... well, we should have thought it through—but I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now,” Aniston said.

Today many comedic shows or movies have to make sure they are not offending anyone with certain material or jokes to protect themselves from the ongoing “cancel culture.”

“Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life,” Aniston said.

Comedians don’t have as much free will to freely express themselves in contrast to past decades of comedy shows.

“You could joke about a bigot and have a laugh—that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were,” she said. “And now we’re not allowed to do that.”

The “Just Go With It” actress shines a light on just how important humor is to keeping society peaceful, together, and less divided.

“Everybody needs funny! The world needs humor! We can’t take ourselves too seriously. Especially in the United States. Everyone is far too divided,” she said.

Fighting Cancel Culture

Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan opened his own comedy club in Austin, Texas, to push back against cancel culture.

The club, Comedy Mothership, is an “anti-cancel culture” safe haven where comics who have been “canceled” can perform freely. The opening lineup on March 7 included Roseanne Barr, who was fired from the reboot of her namesake TV show “Roseanne” in 2018 after network executives took issue with a tweet she posted.

Tickets for the show sold out in minutes, the New York Post reported.

In an interview with fellow comic and podcaster Theo Von, Rogan said he felt compelled to open the club.

“I never wanted to own a comedy club, and I always felt like you just had to be nice to comedy club owners because you never want to be one of those [expletive] people. But then when I knew I was moving here, and [Austin’s Capital City Comedy Club] was already closed, I was like, ‘Maybe I should buy a [expletive] club, and start a club.’ And so, that became my focus,” he said.

Comedy and Free Speech

Comedy has traditionally been at the vanguard of free expression under the First Amendment.

In an interview with The Breakfast Club radio show in 2021, comedian Chris Rock said cancel culture and the policing of comedy makes it difficult for comics to work.

“What happens is everybody gets safe, and when everybody gets safe and nobody tries anything, things get boring,” he said. “So I see a lot of unfunny comedians, I see unfunny TV shows, I see unfunny awards shows, I see unfunny movies, because no one’s—everybody’s scared to, like, make a move.”

Sandler said he’s noticed other changes in the comedy landscape.

“Do you know what else has changed about comedies? The look,” Sandler joked, pointing to his clothes, during the AFP interview.

Comedies are now expected to look as good as expensive big-budget movies, he said.

“Remember when we used to make comedies? They would give you a budget, not too much money, and say, ‘Do whatever you can with that,’” Sandler said.

“And, now they want us to look pretty awesome. We work harder on that,” he said.