Former America’s Got Talent judge Gabrielle Union hosted an all-star cast zoom meeting of famous black actors for a table reading of the hit sitcom series Friends. The event was directed by Salli Richardson-Whitfield via Zoom last Tuesday.

The ensemble featured: Sterling K. Brown as Ross, Ryan Michelle Bathe as Rachel, Uzo Aduba as Phoebe, Aisha Hinds, Kendrick Sampson, as Joey and Jeremy Pope as Chandler. Together they reenacted the season 3 episode dubbed The One Where No One’s Ready, where the group tries to be on time for a black-tie benefit at a museum where Ross works.

Union had actually appeared on Friends in 1997, playing as Kristen Lang, a love interest to the characters of Joey and Ross.

Her appearance later led to some controversy as she once tweeted, “I got in trouble for saying I was the only black person on Friends… they made me change it to ‘1st African American love interest’, the tweet no doubt referencing the sitcom’s lack of nonwhite characters.

When asked about the event, Richardson-Whitfield had this to say: “Historically, artists and entertainers have played essential roles in amplifying urgent voter issues and mobilizing the masses to be civically engaged. This series is a continuance of that tradition and a way to bring much-needed joy and laughter into people’s homes.”

The reading was the focus of the second episode of the Zoom Where It Happens streaming series whose first episode had its cast reading and an episode of Golden Girls. This episode was sponsored by whenweallvote.org, in reference to the General Elections in November.

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Article by Kenny Santos

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