NEED TO KNOW
Erika Alexander recalls the moment she realized just how dedicated Living Single fans areBack in 2020, the actress had a heated exchange with Friends actor David Schwimmer following his comments regarding both shows Alexander and former costar Kim Cole recently launched the ReLiving Single rewatch podcast
When it comes to the loyalty and love fans have for Living Single, Erika Alexander learned in real time just how viewers of the show are protective of the classic series.
Back in 2020, Alexander, 55, found herself in the middle of an X, then Twitter, “beef” with David Schwimmer after the Friends actor mistakenly implied that, because of the success of his show, there “should be an all-Black Friends” or an “all-Asian Friends” during an interview with The Guardian.
The comment was in answer to how Friends, in its second resurgence in the streaming era, was receiving some criticism for some of its problematic elements, i.e. the lack of diversity, homophobia, sexism, etc.
In actuality, Living Single preceded Friends and aired on Fox beginning August 1993. According to Alexanderthe NBC president at the time revealed he wished he had bought the hilarious sitcom. A year later, in September 1994, Friends premiered on his network and became a juggernaut.
The cast of ‘Living Single’; The cast of ‘Friends’.
Warner Bros./ Courtesy Everett Collection; Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
The parallels were undeniable. Both shows followed a group of six single people — two of them related — as they navigated the ups and downs of careers, dating and trying to figure out life. Both shows also featured a signature apartment as the main base for the friend group.
So, with all that history in context, when Alexander caught wind of Schwimmer’s interview, she felt compelled to respond, and that set off a firestorm that neither party had anticipated.
“I was astounded,” Alexander says of the onslaught of support that came to her and the show’s defense. “That’s when I saw the power of the Black Twitter universe.”
“He had made a comment — and he’s a good dude, by the way, and he apologized for not knowing — but he made a comment, unknowingly, that perhaps one day, because of the success of Friends, there would be perhaps a Black or Asian Friends,” she explains to PEOPLE exclusively.
The female cast of ‘Living Single’.
Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection
“I happened to be at Sundance at the time, and I was getting on a plane and somebody had made it known. And actually, my partner at Color Farm (Media), Ben Arnon, was like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to answer this. You have to send it back a tweet.’ And I wasn’t a big tweeter like that, so I was like, ‘Nah, he probably didn’t (mean it),’ Arnon’s like, ‘You’ve got to,’” she continues.
“So I sat there right before the plane took off, sent it and when the plane landed, and I took a look, it was a Twitter war. People were like, ‘Get it, Queen.’ There was some rallying cry.”
Because of the conversation the X exchange had sparked, Alexander realized there needed to be a deeper explanation about the impact of Schwimmer’s statements and what they imply for creatives of color.
“I got a call from Medium, and they were like, ‘You need to write a story about this,’ and then I realized I would need to, because going back and forth with David Schwimmer, and then now probably his PR, was not going to do it. And I needed to put it in the space of a complex conversation about why it mattered what he said. So I ended up having to write an essay, an article about it, and put that out,” she says.
‘ReLiving Single’ hosts Erika Alexander and Kim Coles.
Hartbeat
The essay lives on Medium to this day.
Things between her and Schwimmer are good though, the actress expresses.
“(He) got in contact with me personally and said, ‘Listen, I meant no disrespect.’ And I said, ‘I know you didn’t,’ and I said, ‘I meant none (either).’ I was just answering that to say, perhaps you didn’t know that you are the white Living Single.”
Through it all though, Alexander is grateful for how the fans rallied behind her and protected the groundwork that Living Single laid for Friends and the many similar sitcoms that followed.
“And so to our people, thank you, I appreciate the backup. If Gladys Knight has her Pips, we have our Living Single (fans). Let me tell you, it was real.”
Alexander and former costar Kim Coles recently relaunched their “official unofficial” rewatch podcast, ReLiving Single, where they not only sit down, rewatch the episodes and dissect the show together, but they also give fans some behind-the-scenes tidbits about everything that was going on off-camera.
“People are loving it,” Alexander says of the feedback. “There’s comments if you go to YouTube — we are also on Spotify and other places where you can see it — but there’s a conversation going all the time and feedback loop is powerful. I think people understand that this show is for them and anyone who loves good storytelling, hopefully a good conversation, good vibes,” Alexander says.
“I think fans will feel very right at home because they come for the reasons that they love the show. And hopefully they get to meet Kim and I in a different way or a more, let’s say, a restorative way that’s not just the character but ourselves.”
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