Kauffman, who is also the creator of Netflix hit Grace And Frankie, said she now strives to create inclusive and diverse workplaces.
The show follows two women who have always been rivals until they have to join forces after learning that their husbands have fallen in love and want to get married.
“It is very important to me that where we are is a safe place, a tolerant place, where there is no yelling.
“I fired a man on the spot for making a joke about a trans cameraman. That just can’t be done.”
‘I will never make that mistake again’
About how she handles criticism of the show, Kauffman told host Kim Chakanetsa: “Friends has been criticized in a number of ways. The biggest is that we didn’t have enough representation of black people.
“And over the years I have come to the point where I can unfortunately say: yes, I am guilty of that. And I will never make that mistake again.
“I was clearly a part of systemic racism in our industry. I wasn’t aware of that, which makes me feel stupid. That was a very fair, extremely difficult criticism that still makes me… emotional.”
Last week, Kauffman donated $4 million to the African American division of her alma mater and apologized for the “embarrassing” whiteness of the cast.
She said killing George Floyd made her think about the lack of diversity in the cast.
“That was really when I started exploring the ways I had participated. I knew then I had to correct course,” she said.
Each of the main characters in Friends — Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Monica (Courteney Cox), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Joey (Matt LeBlanc), and Ross (David Schwimmer) — were white.