Behind-the-scenes trouble on the sitcom?
by Kat Giantis
MSN Entertainment
April 26, 2004

"Friends" is set to sign off for good on May 6, but will the much-lauded show's legacy be dinged by allegations of bad behavior behind the scenes? Last week, a California appeals court reinstated part of a harassment claim brought by a woman who worked as a writer's assistant on the top-rated NBC sitcom in 1999.

Amaani Lyle filed suit against Warner Bros.

TV and three writers on the series, charging she was sexually and racially harassed (the case was originally dismissed in 2002). Now, the good folks at the Smoking Gun have posted Lyle's sworn declaration that relates, in full locker room detail, the not-ready-for-prime-time banter she was allegedly exposed to.

According to TSG, the "Friends" staffers earlier admitted to using "sexually coarse, vulgar, and demeaning language," but they argued that the risqué business was all part of the creative process to find the funny for the Central Perk gang. Huh, we don't remember a yuk-filled episode in which Matt LeBlanc's teddy bear-like Joey becomes a serial rapist, although that was one of the discussions Lyle maintains the writers engaged in.

Lyle's most disturbing claims center on the rude, lewd, and crude remarks the scribes allegedly made about stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, none which we're able or, frankly, willing to repeat here. Suffice to say that the supposed cutting comments concerning Cox's lack of body fat are kind compared to some of the more graphic observations. Read the gory details for yourself over at thesmokinggun.com.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0423041friends1.html

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