David Schwimmer: "I didn't mean to imply Living Single hadn't existed or indeed hand't come before Friends, which I knew it had"

USA Today

Schwimmer responded to getting roasted on social media for telling The Guardian earlier this week that "maybe there should be an all-black Friends or an all-Asian Friends" when Friends has been accused of being a ripoff of Living Single, which premiered the year earlier. Living Single star Erika Alexander tweeted at Schwimmer, saying: "r u seriously telling me you’ve never heard of #LivingSingle? We invented the template! Yr welcome bro. ;)" Schwimmer responded with a lengthy statement on Twitter addressing Alexander. "I didn't mean to imply Living Single hadn't existed or indeed hand't come before Friends, which I knew it had," he wrote. "Please remember in an interview quotes are often pieced together and taken out of context... I assure you I meant no disrespect." Schwimmer added that Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane have said they based the comedy on their own lives living in New York City in their 20s: "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 cas (sic), we are all indebted to Living Single for paving the way."