Zoë Kravitz brutally slams Friends and explains why ‘wild’ 90s sitcom ‘should stay in past’

The actress doesn’t think that some parts of the well-loved show have aged very well

Zoë Kravitz has made her feelings on Friends quite clear.

While it was released in the 1990s, Friends remains one of the most popular sitcoms to date and found a new lease of life when it was added to Netflix back in 2015.

By 2018, Friends became the second most-streamed show on the platform.

But Netflix fans were devastated when it left the streaming site in 2020 after its licensing deal with WarnerMedia came to an end. All 200+ episodes are now streaming on HBO Max instead.

While Friends is still hugely popular, some feel like some of the references from the show are a little bit outdated — one person being Kravitz.

In light of Kravitz’s new movie Caught Stealing recently hitting theatres, she and her co-star Austin Butler have been doing the media rounds.

Zoe Kravitz's new movie is set in the 1990s (TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic)

Zoe Kravitz’s new movie is set in the 1990s (TheStewartofNY/FilmMagic)

The film is set in the 1990s and the pair recently discussed the good and bad parts of this era.

“[I’m] really nostalgic for that time,” Kravitz said of the 90s to PEOPLE. “Then also the fashion, all that stuff’s so cool. New York City and the grunge.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Elvis star Butler shared: “Even just being in the apartment [on set] and seeing the Nintendo 64 on top of the TV. We had the GoldenEye

He also admitted he misses the era of everyone not having cellphones glued to them all the time.

Going on to note what wasn’t so good about the 90s, Kravitz mused: “Super homophobic jokes on mainstream television. If you watch Friends now, you’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s…’.”

Butler was surprised that these kind of jokes were in the popular sitcom, to which Kravitz said: “Oh, so much in Friends. Like, things that aren’t punchlines are punchlines. It’s wild. So maybe that? We can keep that there.”

Butler went on to agree that the world should ‘keep that in the 90s’.

Friends aired for the first time in 1994 (Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Friends aired for the first time in 1994 (Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Even the creators of Friends have admitted that there are some jokes they wish they could have changed in hindsight.

Speaking in 2019, Marta Kauffman said to USA Today: “Every time I watch an episode, there’s something I wish I could have changed.”

She continued: “Like, how did we leave that joke in there? Or, really, that storyline? That’s what we went with?”

Kauffman was also asked about how Friends would look if it were made today.

“I think we didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then, so I’m not sure if we used the appropriate terms,” she said, adding: “I don’t know if I would have known those terms back then. I think that’s the biggest one.”

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