Jennifer Aniston says her classic sitcom Friends might be too offensive to younger viewers if it aired today.

Speaking with AFP in Paris, Aniston, 54, described how a new generation of viewers are taking issue with certain episodes of the comedy series, which nonetheless remains one of the most beloved shows in television history. While insisting that the cast and creative team never intended to cause offense, Aniston acknowledged more thoughtfulness could have gone into filming.

'There's a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of Friends and find them offensive,' she explained. In recent years, viewers of the show have complained about how Friends treated fat characters after Courteney Cox wore a fat suit for flashbacks featuring her character Monica, while others have claimed the show was transphobic for cast Kathleen Turner as Chandler's father, who was written as being openly gay and a drag queen despite being portrayed by a woman.

'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,' Aniston admitted. Now, with cancel culture supposedly rampant, Aniston says writing comedy has gotten more complicated.

'Comedy has evolved, movies have evolved,' she said. '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.'

Previously, 'you could joke about a bigot and have a laugh — that was hysterical. And it was about educating people on how ridiculous people were,' Jennifer said. 'And now we're not allowed to do that.'