Friends star filed complaint after overhearing racist comment

Steve Park has called the set of Friends a ‘toxic environment’ (Picture: NBC)

Comedian Steve Park has detailed witnessing a racist incident while appearing on Friends.

Best known for being part of the sketch comedy series In Living Colour, Steve has also appeared in Do the Right Thing, Fargo, Snowpiercer, and The French Dispatch.

The son of Korean immigrants to the United States, he began his entertainment career as a stand-up comedian before turning his focus to acting.

He also featured in two episodes of Friends, playing two different characters. On the second season in 1996, he played data processor and co-worker of Chandler Bing in the The One with the Chicken Pox.

The following year he was cast as character called Phil in The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion.

However, during his time on set, Park overheard a crew member using racist language when referring to another actor, James Hong.

He played two characters on two episodes of the series in the 90s (Picture: Gary Null NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) He overheard a comment being made against co-star James Hong (Picture: Gilbert Flores/ Variety via Getty Images)

One of the most prolific character actors of all time Hong, now 96, guest-starred on Friends playing Hoshi, the former paid assassin and boxing coach for Monica’s boyfriend Pete (played by Jon Favreau) in the episode The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion.

However, during filming in 1997, Park said he witnessed a ‘toxic environment’.

‘James Hong was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and [the crew member] was calling him to the set and you know, essentially saying, you know, “Where the f*** is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy”,’ he said on the Pod Meets World podcast.

Friends' diversity issues

Friends – which ran between 1994 and 2004 – is one of the most beloved shows of all time, however, has found itself under fire over the years for its lack of diversity.

During its decade-long run, it only cast two people of colour in notable roles.

In 2022 its co-creator Marta Kauffmann admitted she ‘didn’t know better at the time’.

‘I’ve learned a lot in the last 20 years,’ she said.

‘Admitting and accepting guilt is not easy. It’s painful looking at yourself in the mirror. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know better 25 years ago,’ she told The Los Angeles Times.

One of the actors also once said the show was ‘an unrealistic representation of what the real world looked like.’

Disgusted by what he heard, Park filed a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild and wrote a ‘mission statement,’ which called for better treatment of Asian Americans in Hollywood.

‘This is bigger than this show,’ he continued.

‘This isn’t the first time this has happened. But this is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997, I guess it was. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So, this was normal behaviour.’

The mission statement was published in multiple outlets in 1997, with Park writing at the time what he saw was ‘not an isolated incident’.

Park went on to take a break from acting soon after the incident (Picture: Rocco Spaziani/ Archivio Spaziani/ Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images) Friends starred Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow (Picture: Jon Ragel/ NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

‘I know many people who have experienced this kind of indignity on a movie or television show set, and you can be sure this kind of thing is going on in the corporate culture as well,’ he continued.

‘Hate crimes against Asian-Americans are on the rise in this country, and negative portrayals of Asians in the media only encourage this trend.’

Park eventually decided to step back from acting after becoming ‘race-conscious and angry’ and realised a rumour had spread that he’d been ‘blacklisted’.

However eventually returned to the industry after a lengthy break, with his latest role in Bong Joon-ho’s movie Mickey 17.

Friends is streaming on Netflix.

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