Admitting that she failed to do enough to promote diversity on the series, Kauffman became emotional as she spoke of her past decisions, at a 2020 ATX TV From The Couch Virtual Panel.
"I wish I knew then what I know today," Kauffman admitted. "Sorry, I just wish I knew then what I know now. I would've made very different decisions."
"We always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn't do enough," she added. "And now all I can think about is, 'What can I do?'".
However, this isn't the first time racial diversity in the hit-series has been a topic of discussion. Back in January, David Schwimmer, revealed how he made a "conscious push" for the series to hire more diverse actors.
"I was well aware of the lack of diversity and I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour," Schwimmer revealed to The Guardian.
"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."
In consolidation with Schwimmer, co-star Lisa Kudrow, spoke of how casting six white lead cast members simply would have never happened, if the series was made in 2020.
"It would not be an all-white cast, for sure. I'm not sure what else, but to me it should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong," Kudrow revealed to The Times.
"Also, this show thought it was very progressive," she continued. "There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together. We had surrogacy, too. It was, at the time, progressive."
