Friends actor recalls racist name calling on set: ‘It was a toxic environment’ | Hollywood

Friends remains one of the most memorable and beloved shows in television history, even years since its release. However, in a recent revelation during his appearance on the Pod meets World podcast, actor Stephen Park has alleged that the set of the show had a ‘toxic environment’ where no one raised an eyelid when racist name calling took place. (Also read: Matthew Perry documentary director reveals why Jennifer Aniston, other Friends stars weren’t interviewed)

Friends set was a toxic environment?

Stephen Park appeared in Season 2 of the show, in the episode titled, The One with the Chicken Pox and in another Season 3 episode which was titled The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion. As reported by Variety, during his podcast interaction, he talked about his experience of shooting for the show and said, “It was at the time, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment. James Hong was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and [the assistant director] was calling him to the set and you know, essentially saying, ‘Where the ***k is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.’”

‘Nobody felt the need to correct this’

He went on to add, “This isn’t the first time that this happened, you know, but this is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997, I guess it was. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So this is normal behavior.”

Stephen went on to add that he went to the Screen Actors Guild to talk about the incident and he was urged to write a statement to the LA times. However, the incident was not further taken up after that.

Friends starred Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow. Matthew Perry passed away in 2023, when he was found deceased at his home in Los Angeles. Toxicology reports indicated that his death was due to acute ketamine effects, along with drowning and coronary artery disease.