Living Single is...
In early January of 2020, David Schwimmer, the actor who plays Ross in Friends, tweeted "maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends." This was problematic in that Schwimmer recognized his privilege as a hetero, white man, yet ignored the fact that Friends was written off of the sitcom Living Single.
In response to this tweet, Erika Alexander tweeted “Hey @DavidSchwimmer @FriendsTV — R u seriously telling me you’ve never heard of #LivingSingle? We invented the template! Yr welcome bro.;)”
According to a Medium article written by Erika Alexander, she states that “on a deeper level, ignorance —unconscious or otherwise—explains how systematic, racist structures lead to the erasure of Black history” (Alexander, 2020). This digital encounter between the two actors show exactly that –– there was systemic ignorance that set this show and the actors as “other” and would “signal to brands…[that] would never command a higher evaluation”(Alexander, 2020).
As actionable items, we must dismantle and rebuild the infrastructure. We must use our platform and our voices to address and take apart the bias of race, gender, disability, and age in the entertainment industry.