NEWS'Friends' Actor Stephen Park Claims Racist and 'Toxic Environment' on Set Led Him to Temporarily Quit Acting
Stephen Park appeared in Season 2 and Season 3 of 'Friends.'
While most actors would have jumped at the chance to appear on Friends, guest star Stephen Park revealed he had a "disappointing" experience working on two episodes of the hit comedy series.
In fact, Park revealed on the latest episode of the "Pod Meets World" podcast that he was so upset with his time on the show that it spurred him to take a hiatus from acting.
Stephen Park talked about his 'disappointing' experience acting on two episodes of 'Friends.'
"It was at the time, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment," he admitted. "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 f--- is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.’"
"This is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997, I guess," he noted. "And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So this is normal behavior."
Park claimed the set was a 'toxic environment' due to racist comments.
Park was so upset over the way he was treated that he contacted the Screen Actors Guild, who simply suggested he write to a publication like the L.A. Times to tell his story.
Though he was eventually interviewed by a few reporters, his words never made it to print.
"You wrote way ahead of its time an incredibly brave mission statement to Hollywood about status, power and racism in Hollywood about the difficulties you faced finding work as an Asian actor — and especially work that you felt you could be proud of," podcast co-host Danielle Fishel noted.
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Park admitted the situation led him to temporarily 'drop out' from acting.
Despite his courage, the situation ended up taking a heavy toll on him.
"I become so race-conscious and so angry that I was looking at everything through the lens of race. I felt like there was no freedom. I didn’t feel any freedom," he confessed. "So, I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do, but I just decided to drop out. I told everybody, ‘I’m not acting anymore.’"
Park wound up making a return to acting, appearing in shows like Boy Meets World and Law & Order.
Park is hardly the first person to call out the show, as many have pointed out its lack of diversity within the cast.
In addition, Gabrielle Union also didn't have the best experience filming the series.
Gabrielle Union also wasn't happy with her experience appearing on the beloved comedy series.
"I didn’t think about the pressure at the time. I’m always professional and I’m always careful not to make a nuisance of myself. Because of the environment I was raised in, I’m used to being the only black person in an all-white environment," she spilled in an interview. "It was four months later that there was this big to do about never having a black character on Friends."
"That dual consciousness though is what prepares me to then do an episode of Friends after being on City of Angels. When they’re like, ‘Nikki or Gabby, do you know what a mark is?’ Yeah, I’m an actor. Didn’t have to audition for this job, because I was just on a hit show on CBS," she recalled of being treated like a first-timer.
