Friends is a TV classic. But that doesn't mean it hasn't got its fair share of jokes and storylines that are frowned upon in the 2020 context. Most of the fans have long realized that in many aspects, the show didn't age well. Produced from 1994 to 2004, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross, and Joey constantly reproduce speeches and beliefs since revisited and considered inappropriate.
Fans and critics point out that the show has several misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, undiverse, and fatphobic moments and characters. As one of the main characters who once was obese, Monica is constantly criticized and made fun of for her past weight. However, she isn't the only character fat-shamed in the sitcom. Here's a list of every character who was fat-shamed, ranked from least to most offensive.
The One With Future Pregnant Monica
In season 9, episode 16, "The One With The Boob Job," Joey lies to Chandler about Monica wanting to have plastic surgery on her breasts. Chandler dislikes the idea and attempts to make Monica aware of how happy he is with her body, leading her to misinterpret it for Chandler's difficulty accepting the changes in a hypothetical woman's pregnant body.
The way Monica and Rachel easily understand Chandler's supposed fear normalizes a toxic masculine behavior that shows immaturity, futility, and prejudice. Men unable or struggling to accept a woman with a body different from the unrealistic, idealized standard is fatphobic and extremely sexist, and it opens our list.
The One With Chandler's Ex-Girlfriend
In the sixth episode of the seventh season, it is revealed that Chandler has a former camp girlfriend named Julie, with whom he broke up badly years back. When investigating the reason, Monica finds out it was because she gained a lot of weight in the period of one year.
Offended, Monica asks Chandler to apologize for the malfeasance, even though it's years later. They end up making things worse since Julie didn't know her weight gain was the cause for the separation. Chandler's intolerance to accept and like a girl he dated for two camp seasons because she gained weight is plain fatphobic. And it helps normalize fat-shaming amongst teenagers, an already delicate age group. The situation gets worse when, later on, Chandler justifies his action by sharing how much weight Julie actually gained, which leads Monica to side with him. It's a well-deserved 9th place.
The One With Young Monica's Introduction
We hear about Monica being overweight as a child and teenager from early on in the show, but it's only in season 2 that the audience sees tape footage of the younger versions of Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Chandler. In the episode "The One With The Prom Tape," Rachel finds out since when Ross liked her, and the viewers got to share with Joey seeing overweight Monica for the first time. This is offensive fat-shaming moment number 8.
Joey's reaction is terrible; he is judgemental and disrespectful when he makes fun of Monica's former weight by saying that some other girl swallowed her. The offensive joke is followed by Monica defending herself and Chandler finishing the exchange with a second fat-shaming punchline.
The One With Brad Pitt's Will Colbert
In season 8, Friends had an exceptional guest star: Brad Pitt. He played the role of Will Colbert, an old High School friend of Monica, Ross, and Rachel. Like Monica, Will lost a lot of weight since the school days, making him look different. Both Monica and Ross acknowledge the change, but Rachel doesn't seem capable of recognizing Will at all. Rachel and Will went to the same school for several years and had the Gellers as friends in common.
It's in character for Rachel, especially as a teenager, to not pay any attention to anyone who wasn't in the popular circle. But it doesn't make it okay for her to completely erase someone from existence because they look fat. As a result of this explicit fatphobia, Will starts an I Hate Rachel Green club with Ross, who misplaces his true feelings for Rachel.
The One In The Alternate Universe
In the two-part episode "What Could Have Been," in season 6, the friends imagine what their lives would be like if major life events had happened differently. Monica imagines her life as if she never lost weight, and her alternate self falls into a fat joke cliché.
Even though Monica and Chandler still end up together in this alternate reality, contrary to everyone's belief, 30-year-old fat Monica is an infantilized virgin. The implication that fat people lack a sex life due to their weight is offensive, not true, and unnecessary. The show missed another opportunity to explore a well-resolved confident character instead of fall into a silly cliché that features the sixth position on the list.
The One With Danny Devito's Officer GoodBody
After Phoebe gets frustrated with her bachelorette party, Monica and Rachel hire a stripper to make things interesting. The stripper, Roy, aka Officer GoodBody, is played by actor Danny Devito and the joke is within the girls' frustration when he doesn't meet the expected looks for a stripper.
Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe's storyline revolves around the three mistreating the man with cruel jokes to the point they make him cry.
The One Where Young Monica Dances
This time, Monica was not fat-shamed by a fellow character but by the showrunners themselves. There's more than one occasion, during the show, that young and overweight Monica is shown dancing carefreely. The most remembered time she's at the apartment, dancing solo while eating a donut. A young woman outside the cultural beauty standard, confident enough to dance like no one is watching, could have been praised for her positivity. Instead, a situation is created to generate physical humor and make fun of a fat person's moves.
The missed opportunity to share an important life lesson replaced by a bad taste offensive joke takes the fourth place on the list.
The One With Fat Joey
The third most offensive fat-shaming moment happens in season 7 after it's revealed that Monica actually wanted to sleep with Joey when she first slept with Chandler. Phoebe encourages the friends to wonder what would have happened if Monica and Joey had gotten together.
The result is an over-weight Joey who seemed to live for Monica's food. He comes from the bedroom in very casual clothes, implying he didn't do much besides staying at home and eating. He has an unimaginative taste for food, which consisted solely of "fried stuff with cheese," he had sloppy eating habits and lacked physical coordination. All derogatory features commonly used to represent fat characters, and big leaps from the original personality Joey had already established during 7 years. Stereotypical traits in overweight characters only corroborate society's negative view on bodies that aren't within the idealized standard.
The One With Ross's Fat Sister
This time, Monica is bluntly fat-shamed by Chandler in her own house. When Ross brings Chandler over for Thanksgiving, he overhears Rachel complain about high school boys and decides to make a move. However, Chandler asks his friend not to spend the night out to save him from being stuck with his "fat sister."
Monica accidentally overhears their conversation, and that's when she decides to focus on losing weight for the following year. Again, Friends missed an opportunity for a good teaching moment. Monica could have confronted Chandler's prejudice, or Ross could have pointed out how that might hurt Monica's feelings, but it's used merely as a plot device for Monica's revenge.
Most Offensive: The One Ugly Naked Guy
The Ugly Naked Guy is a recurring character and joke throughout many seasons of the show, and it's the most offensive fat-shaming joke in Friends. He is a man who lives across the street from Monica and who's constantly the subject of disgust to the group of friends, who never seem to realize how out of line they are with invading his privacy.
Although they continuously spy on him, they consider the man repulsive, supposedly for being fat. One of the most offensive gimmicks attempted by the sitcom, the fat-shaming of this character goes as far as him killing a cat by sitting on it and being poked by a giant stick to make sure he's alive.