Jennifer Aniston joins the fray on sensitivities in comedy

Jennifer Aniston has added her voice to those who say changing sensibilities is making comedy harder.

‘Comedy has evolved, movies have evolved,’ the 54-year-old French news agency AFP.

‘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 said that previously ‘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.’

Aniston acknowledged that younger viewers had been rediscovering old episodes of Friends and found them offensive, adding: ‘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.

The sitcom that made her name has been criticised for its all-white cast and for homophobic and transphobic storylines, such as the running joke that people think Chandler is gay, the same character’s aversion to his transgender parent played by Kathleen Turner and so-called ‘gay panic’ when Joey and Ross freak out after accidentally falling asleep together on the couch.

Show co-creator Marta Kauffman last year said she had had a revelation about the lack of diversity on the show in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. She said that the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder made her aware of ‘systemic racism in ways I was never aware of… that was really the moment that I began to examine the ways I had participated’.

Despite – or perhaps because of – the new sensitivities, Aniston made a plea for more comedies, telling AFP: ‘Everybody needs funny! The world needs humour! We can’t take ourselves too seriously.’

She was speaking to promote her new Netflix film Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler.

Published: 30 Mar 2023