An actor who featured on Friends has fiercely denounced the ‘toxic environment’ he claimed he saw on the set of the beloved sitcom.
Stephen Park guest starred on two episodes of the iconic TV series, one in 1996 and one in 1997, playing two different characters.
In 1999 he penned a highly-publicized open letter criticizing the media portrayal of Asian Americans, as well as alleging he had an ‘an extremely painful experience’ while ‘working as a guest star on one of the highest rated shows on television.’
The Korean American actor was widely regarded as having been referring to Friends – which he confirmed in a new interview.
Park claimed he heard an assistant director summoning another Asian American actor by saying: ‘Where the f*** is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.’
He added that ‘nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it,’ speaking to Danielle Fishel and her co-hosts on the podcast Pod Meets World.
Friends – starring Jennifer and Courtney with Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer – ran on NBC from 1994 to 2004
‘It was at the time, for me, it was kind of a toxic environment,’ Park said, before describing remarks he claimed to have heard from a ‘racist’ assistant director.
‘James Hong was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and [the assistant director] was calling him to the set and essentially saying: “Where the f*** is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy,” the actor alleged.
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‘I called the Screen Actors Guild after that happened and the person I spoke to recommended I write an article to the LA Times, and I thought: “Oh, okay, that might be a good idea,”‘ Park continued.
Inspired by the movie Jerry Maguire, in which the title character writes a mission statement, Park put together a similar missive.
According to Park, the alleged incident he described on the set of Friends was ‘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 is normal behavior.’
Park claimed he provided his statement to the Los Angeles Times, which sent reporters to speak with him but never ran either the interview or the letter.
As a result, he decided to disseminate the statement among his email list, telling recipients: ‘If this movies you, please forward it along.’
He shared that ‘within a week, I was getting responses from all across the country from publications that were asking permission to reprint it, and so it was like this – it went viral before “viral” was even a word.’
In 1999 the guest star, Stephen Park, penned a highly-publicized open letter criticizing the media portrayal of Asian Americans; pictured in 2023
Park guest starred on two episodes of the TV series, including the 1996 episode The One With The Chicken Pox, on which he is pictured with Matthew Perry (left) and Matt LeBlanc (center)
Park wrote an open letter in which he spoke negatively about his time on Friends, whose cast are pictured in a publicity shot during the 1990s
In the statement, he did not name Friends outright, but explained he had worked ‘as a guest star on one of the highest rated shows on television.’
Park asserted: ‘Working with the people involved with this show was an extremely painful experience for me. A disturbing lack in generosity of spirit and basic human courtesy, in addition to a racial incident on the set, has forced me to speak out.’
He claimed: ‘Not only did various key people on the set not have the courtesy to introduce themselves as we began to work together, they created an environment of fear and insecurity. One PA spoke of having worked on the show for almost a full year without one cast member ever having said hello to him in that entire time.’
Park alleged further that an assistant director, ‘in a short tirade, called an Asian-American actor to the set over a walkie-talkie with the words: “I don’t have time for this! Where’s Hoshi, Toshi or whatever the f*** his name is. Get the oriental guy!” He did not even have the respect to learn the name of the actor, a veteran of 40 years.’
In his new interview, Park said that shortly before his son’s birth in 2000, he ‘decided to quit acting’ as he had ‘become so race-conscious and so angry that I was looking at everything through the lens of race, and I just felt like there was no freedom.’
He said: ‘I didn’t feel any freedom, and I didn’t have any idea what I was gonna do, but I just decided to drop out and I told everybody: “I’m not acting anymore.”‘
After about a year as a ‘stay-at-home dad,’ he was coaxed back into showbiz with the offer of an audition and began a ‘slow climb’ back into Hollywood.
Park has acted regularly since, featuring on TV shows like The Mindy Project and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as in movies like the recent Wes Anderson releases The French Dispatch and Asteroid City.