NOT everyone found the Friends set a friendly place. Steve Park, who guest-starred on two episodes of the beloved sitcom, said fellow actor James Hong, who played boxing coach Hoshi, was the subject of a racial epithet.
“[The assistant director] was calling him to the set and, you know, essentially saying, ‘Where the f**k is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy,’” the Korean-American actor says.
“Nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it.” Soon after, he wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times about the incident, explaining, “Given the atmosphere on the set, it did not feel safe to say anything.”
The “toxic” racism in the industry made him so angry he eventually put his career on pause for a time.…
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Globe (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 31, 2025