“A whole generation finds ‘Friends’ offensive”

Jennifer Aniston has shared her thoughts on the evolution of comedy, saying there is now “a whole generation” of people who find Friends “offensive”.

Speaking to Associated Press (via Yahoo!), the Murder Mystery 2 star addressed how the world has changed since Friends aired in the 1990s.

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

“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 added.

In recent years, Friends has been criticised for its lack of diversity as well as a number of homophobic and transphobic jokes.

“Comedy has evolved, movies have evolved,” Aniston continued. “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.”

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

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

Last month, TÁR actress Cate Blanchett suggested that society is “destined to repeat” its mistakes if we continue to embrace cancel culture.

“If you don’t read older books that are slightly offensive because of what they say in a historical context, then you will never grapple with the minds of the time [and] we are destined to repeat that stuff,” the actress told The Radio Times.

Aniston will next been seen alongside Adam Sandler in Netflix‘s Murder Mystery 2, due for release on March 31.