Friends is one of the best sitcoms of all time, but the show didn’t make it through its run without its share of controversy. For example, actor Stephen Park revisited his experience on the show and talked about the racism he experienced and how it nearly led to him quitting acting entirely.
Stephen Park, who will be seen this weekend in Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, has over 70 acting credits to his name, including many notable TV guest appearances. One of those was on the sitcom hit Boy Meets World, and it was in an appearance on the Pod Meets World podcast that he discussed what happened on the set of Friends.
What Happened To Stephen Park On The Set Of Friends
Stephen Park actually appeared twice on Friends, but it was on the Season 3 episode “The One With The Ultimate Fighting Championship” where he says the incident occurred. Noted character actor James Hong was also in the episode, and it was when an assistant director was looking for Hong that Park says the racism came out. He explained…
It was at the time, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment. James Hong was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and [the assistant director] was calling him to the set and you know, essentially saying, ‘Where the fuck is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.’
Even three decades ago, James Hong was one of the most recognizable character actors in Hollywood, and Park really had a problem with the disrespect and racism that was being shown to him.
The bigger issue, however, may have been that nobody else on the set said or did anything about it. Park continued…
This isn’t the first time that this happened, you know, but this is the environment where this is 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.
The situation was apparently so “normal” that Park began to question whether he wanted to continue in the industry.
Why Stephen Park Almost Quit Acting
Stephen Park said nobody on the Friends set did anything about the remark, so he tried to do something about it. He wrote a piece inspired by Jerry Maguire's famous "mission statement," regarding the issue and tried to get it published in the New York Times. The paper interviewed him but ultimately declined to publish the piece.
Park simply decided to email the piece to his friends, who then forwarded it on to others. The mission statement went viral online (for 1997), leading to it getting reprinted elsewhere and Park being interviewed and asked to speak on the topic of racism in Hollywood.
However, perhaps because of his focus on racism in Hollywood, Park became somewhat disillusioned with the industry. He ultimately decided to quit acting, explaining...
I felt like there was no freedom. I didn’t feel any freedom. So, I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do, but I just decided to drop out. I told everybody, ‘I’m not acting anymore.’
He was out of the industry for a year, remaining a stay-at-home dad. He was then offered an audition that, not having anything else going on, he took. He says that began the “slow climb” back into acting.
We certainly would have lost a great actor if Stephen Park had left the industry. In addition to his massive number of TV appearances, he has worked with some of the greatest modern filmmakers, including the Coen Brothers as part of the Fargo cast, Wes Anderson, and most recently, Bong Joon Ho for Mickey 17.
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