Who did Steve Park play in Friends? Guest star speaks about alleged racist incident on set

Falling Down actor Steve Park recently talked candidly about his time spent as a guest performer on the set of the hit sitcom FRIENDS. The 62-year-old appeared on two episodes as a guest and claimed that the set was "kind of a toxic environment."

On the March 3 episode of the Boy Meets World revisit podcast Pod Meets World, Steve Park recalled that he allegedly noticed a staff member using racist words to describe a fellow Asian American guest actor, James Hong. The unidentified crew member reportedly called Hong to set by saying:

“Where is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.'”

Pod Meets World: Stephen Park Meets World byu/Phillies059 inboymeetsworld

Talking about the same, Park continued:

"It was at the time, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment."

Steve Park played two different characters on FRIENDS. In 1996, he played the role of Scott Alexander, a data processor who was Chandler Bing’s coworker in Season 2, Episode 23, named The One with the Chicken Pox. He also played the character of Phil in 1997 during the Season 3, Episode 24, called The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion.

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Steve Park opened up about his negative experience on the set of FRIENDS

Steve Park then said during the Pod Meets World interview that after the incident, he was inspired by the incident to file a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild and create a "mission statement" that made headlines, demanding that Asian Americans be treated more fairly in Hollywood.

Park further told the podcast hosts and former Boy Meets World cast members Rider Strong, Will Friedle, and Danielle Fishel that:

“When I called Screen Actors Guild after that happened, the person I spoke with recommended I write an article to the LA Times.”

He added,

"This is bigger than this show. This isn't the first time this has happened. 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 was normal behavior."

Steve Park also said that after interviewing him about this, the L.A. Times "never printed it." Hence, he later sent out the statement personally via email, which prompted reactions from national publications requesting authorisation to re-print it in their publications.

Park then claimed that the open letter, which was published in a number of places in the spring of 1997, allegedly exposed various forms of discrimination against Asian Americans and people of colour employed in the entertainment industry at the time. He went on talking about the content of the letter, where he wrote:

"If this was an isolated incident, I would not have felt compelled to write this mission statement. Unfortunately, I find this attitude and behavior commonplace in Hollywood.”

He further wrote:

“I know many people who have experienced this kind of indignity on a movie or television show set, and you can be sure this kind of thing is going on in the corporate culture as well.."

The letter also stated that hate crimes against Asian-Americans were reportedly increasing in USA, and the media's alleged unfavourable depictions of Asians only served to fuel it.

Steve Park's goal statement, according to 43-year-old Fishel, was "ahead of its time" and "incredibly brave." She then told the listeners:

“I really recommend everybody read it. It is still on the internet. And you’ll realize, you know, Steve was saying these things 26 years ago, and they are still relevant.”

This isn’t the first time the set of FRIENDS was alleged to be racist. According to a July 3, 2022 report of Decider, co-creator of the popular sitcom, Marta Kauffman, opened up against the institutional racism of the show in an interview.

She further talked about how she thought it affected the show's casting decisions. About the same, Kauffman said:

“It took me a long time to begin to understand how I internalized systemic racism. I’ve been working really hard to become an ally, an anti-racist. And this seemed to me to be a way that I could participate in the conversation from a white woman’s perspective.”

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Meanwhile, the Post claimed in their March 5 report that they had contacted Kauffman for comments but haven't heard back from her as of yet.