Friends is a rip off of Living Single, and a bunch of other times White People Stole from Black People

We all know that Living Single is way better of a show than Friends. Living Single, which first aired in 1993, was wildly successful. Suspiciously, in 1994, Friends aired, and Black People everywhere have wondered what the hell ever since. 1st, it was a very literal copy of Living Single and second, it was very suspiciously also in New York, though a very Whitewashed version.

According to The Guardian, David Schwimmer, the guy who played Ross on Friends, addressed the very common criticism of the lack of diversity on Friends (because where in New York is it THAT White), by saying “I don’t care,” Schwimmer said. “That show was groundbreaking in its time for the way in which it handled so casually sex, protected sex, gay marriage, and relationships… You have to look at it from the point of view of what the show was trying to do at the time. I’m the first person to say that maybe something was inappropriate or insensitive, but I feel like my barometer was pretty good at that time. I was already really attuned to social issues and issues of equality.”

Following David's interview appeared, Erica Alexander, who played Maxine Shaw (attorney at law. I had to say it) on Living Single, took to Twitter, “Hey @DavidSchwimmer @FriendsTV, r u seriously telling me you’ve never heard of #LivingSingle?” Alexander tweeted. “We invented the template. Yr welcome, bro. ;)”.

David immediately created his own iOS press release, saying:

"Hi, Erika. As you know, I was asked recently in an interview for The Guardian how I felt (for the thousandth time) about a reboot of Friends immediately following a conversation about diversity on the show, and so offered up other possibilities for a reimagining of the show today. I didn’t mean to imply Living Single hadn’t existed or indeed hadn’t come before Friends, which I knew it had. Please remember in an interview quotes are often pieced together and taken out of context, and then these quotes are repurposed in other articles by other people who are trying to be provocative.

I was a fan of Living Single and was not implying Friends was the first of its kind. To my knowledge, Friends (which came out a year later) was inspired by [series creators] Marta [Kaufmann] & David [Crane]’s own lives and circle of friends living in NY in their twenties. If it was based on Living Single you’d have to ask them. It’s entirely possible that Warner Brothers and NBC, encouraged by the success of Living Single, gave the Friends pilot a green light. I honestly don’t know, but seems likely! If that’s the case, we are all indebted to Living Single for paving the way.
In any event, if my quote was taken out of context, it’s hardly in my control.
I assure you I meant no disrespect.
David"

Following this, there was a collective eye roll from the Black community. 

First and foremost, how dare you say that you don't care about the sheer and immediately evident lack of diversity on your overpaid show? Imagine the privilege to be able to not care about diversity and inclusion. Also, if you really think that your character dating a single Asian or a single Black woman made up for the pervasive whitewashed version of New York City you and the rest of the Friends staff were portraying, you are grossly mistaken.

Just because you addressed "big issues" on your show, doesn't mean you can gloss over the one, singular, most obvious and apparent thing that Friends did not address, which is its complete ignoring of other races.

Finally, it is more than apparent from just the similarities of the shows, the times in which they were released, some of the subject matter that was addressed in both shows and now from this completely privileged statement that Friends was indeed a whitewashed ripoff of Living Single. 

Think about it: prior to Living Single, a show about six single successful and young people all living in close proximity of one another

After all, this isn't the first thing White people have proudly stolen from Black people.

The art community has long known that your favorite painter, Pablo Picasso stole many ideas from African artists. In 2006, a Johannesburg gallery proved this when they hosted the largest exhibition of Picasso’s work ever in South Africa. The gallery also featured work of African artists who "inspired" Picasso. In fact, South African Department of Arts and Culture spokesman Sandile Memele said of the exhibit: “Today the truth is on display that Picasso would not have been the renowned creative genius he was if he did not steal and re-adapt the work of ‘anonymous (African) artists.’”

If we venture into the realm of music, among the numerous thefts there (here's looking at you, Rock, Jazz, etc) it is well known that Led Zepplin, who has been sued multiple times for their musical theft, notably stole an entire guitar riff from Willie Dixon on the song "Whole Lotta Love."

We could talk about yall's "king" of theft, Elvis Pressley, who stole the song Hounddog from Big Mama Thornton.

We could talk about Charlie Case, a famous vaudeville comedian who had his entire act stolen by W.C. Fields.

What about Chuck Berry's whole entire career? A shortlist of the constant theft faced by Berry includes The Beach Boys “Surfin’ USA”, Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, The Beatles’ “Come Together” and “I Saw Her Standing There”, and The Rolling Stones’ full catalog!

What about Jack Daniels Whiskey? Jack Daniels learned to make whiskey from Nearest Green, a slave who was the family’s master distiller and the first African-American master in the United States. 150 years after it took Green’s recipe and erased him from history, the Daniels family finally came clean.

What about how a slave saved America from disease? In 1716, Onesimus, an enslaved African purchased by Puritan minister Cotton Mather showed Mather how to cure Small Pox from a basic African tradition, which would be the basis of how we vaccinate today.

Oh, and of course, let's not forget people. Yes, White People stole, literally stole, Black People from their own peoples and lands, forced them into the horrific slave trade and forced them to build the country and wealth many White people still benefit from today.

So, David, it's not that we aren't used to White people literally taking our ideas and presenting them as their own. But we aren't going to just ignore it just because it's 2020.