Jennifer Aniston at the Los Angeles Premiere of "Wanderlust" held at the Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles, USA on February 16, 2012.
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Jennifer Aniston is tired of hearing Gen Z complain about ‘Friends’

Actress Jennifer Aniston says that “the world needs humor” as she is discovering Gen Z seems to find the jokes from her former mega-hit show Friends–once the world’s most popular TV program–offensive to their sensibilities.

Jennifer Aniston dishes on humorless Gen Z over complaints Friends

In a recent interview with the Associated Foreign Press (AFP), former Friends star Jennifer Aniston said there is a whole generation who find the show to be “offensive.”

Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Greene for ten seasons in the 1990s TV series that followed the lives of 6 twenty-to-thirty-something friends living in the Manhattan borough of New York City.

In a recent interview with the AFP via Yahoo, Aniston, 54, said comedy is tough to do now because of the sensibilities of younger people, and how they are complaining about Friends is a clear example.

Some outlets have posted lists of “offensive” or “shocking” Friends jokes they say the show couldn’t “get away with today,” such as these at Bustle and Cosmopolitan. MSN recently listed some of the gags that would be seen as fat-shaming, homophobic, or tone-deaf today.

“There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of ‘Friends’ and find them offensive,” Aniston said. “There were things that were never intentional and others, well, we should have thought it through. But I don’t think there was a sensitivity like there is now.”

“Comedy has evolved, movies have evolved,” Aniston continued. “Now it’s a little tricky because you have to be very careful, which makes it really hard for comedians, because the beauty of comedy is that we make fun of ourselves, make fun of life.”

“You could joke about a bigot and have a laugh,” Aniston added. “That was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were, and now we’re not allowed to do that.”

‘Friends’ was insanely popular and still earns massive cash

No matter how offensive Generation Z might find Friends, their opinion on its content appears not to be diminishing the massive cash flow the show still generates for Warner Bros. and its former stars.

Friends was once the world’s popular television show, with some episodes that garnered nearly 53 million viewers. Due to Friends’ massive popularity, the six major cast members eventually negotiated a deal to each receive $1 million per episode.

The show still pulls in a huge audience that watches reruns. Friends continues to generate nearly $1 billion annually for Warner Bros., with roughly $20 million in residuals going to its stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer – who pocket roughly $3.3 million each annually, each having a 2% stake in syndication.

The younger generation may not be laughing at Friends’ jokes, but the producers and its former stars are still laughing all the way to the bank.