Joey Tribiani might bring a lot of harmless fun to Friends, but there are many aspects of his character, both in his personality and the things he does, that wouldn't be allowed today. As is the case with many older television shows, as the world develops, certain aspects are no longer as acceptable.
This is true for Friends as well, no matter how incredibly popular the sitcom is. Sadly, certain elements of the show just haven't aged well, as things that were once fine are no longer appropriate. Some of these elements involve the beloved Joey Tribiani. While he might be an amazing character who brings tons of joy to the show, in this list, we will showcase 10 things about his character that just wouldn't fly today.
"No, Only For Sex"
Certain lines from Friends that managed to get a laugh when the episode first aired now just look incredibly poor, in hindsight. When Joey is asked if he's ever nice to strange women for no reason at all and he responds, "No, only for sex" and it no longer sits right.
The fact that Joey literally just sees women as an object to please him is something that isn't great (more on that later), but this 'joke', in particular, just doesn't sit well anymore and would no longer be deemed appropriate.
Breastfeeding Reactions
Another moment that wouldn't fly about Joey today is how he and Chandler react to Carol when she breastfeeds Ben in front of them. Instead of seeing it as a beautiful thing that is helping the baby to grow and survive, Joey goes crazy as if he has seen something totally horrific.
It's a wild over-exaggeration and because this has been a hot topic in recent years, it wouldn't fly today. Nowadays, it is certainly seen as normal for a woman to breastfeed in public, especially in front of friends, therefore if it was shot today, Joey would likely be very chilled out about the whole thing.
Renting On Looks
When Chandler and Monica get serious and he moves across the hall, Joey is left with an entire apartment to himself. As he's not the best with money, Joey rents out the apartment to foot the bill, and his is how Janine ends up joining the show.
She is a very attractive woman who ends up having a relationship with Joey. However, instead of finding out information about her as a person to check if she'd be a suitable roommate, Joey agrees to let her live there purely based on her physical appearance, which again objectifies women.
His Financial Situation
Not everyone in life can be financially stable. Therefore, having a character who struggled with money on the show made sense. However, Joey's character took this way too far. He was a fairly successful actor over the course of the series, and always seemed to be doing some sort of work.
Yet he constantly relied upon bailouts from Chandler, and while the exact figures aren't mentioned, it has to be a lot of money. Nowadays, it wouldn't go down as well to have a friend that basically just sponges off the other like this.
Being Creepy With His Friends
It isn't just random strangers that Joey is often very weird with. He is also slightly over the top and creepy with his close friends too. He ends up seeing Rachel naked, and when he thinks she is looking at porn, Joey has a field day of creepiness.
It's very strange for someone to act this way with their friends, and it isn't something that would go down well nowadays. Rather than being funny, he would be seen as a pest, which makes him far less endearing as a character.
Joey's Bag
This isn't really a knock about Joey as a person or a character but is mainly the way that the show wrote one aspect of his character and how others mocked him. This was the moment when he got his unisex bag that, apparently, looked like a woman's bag.
Joey was happy with it and that's all that mattered. But the rest of the group tore him apart, mocking him for having a "women's" bag, which is something that just wouldn't fly today, as it is something that would offend some.
Rachel & Monica Making Out
Something that Friends has been heavily criticized for over the years is how it dealt with homosexuality and the storylines surrounding it. While the show gave a platform to gay characters, which was positive, it also made many mistakes that haven't aged well.
A perfect example is how Chandler and Joey objectify women, happy allowing Monica and Rachel to have their apartment back if they kissed for a minute. The fact that something like this would happen, with women basically selling themselves to make a deal, is something that would not go down today.
Losing Ben
Another moment that Joey shared with Chandler that wouldn't go down well today is how they left Ross' son, Ben, on a bus to pursue two women. Sure, every now and the people accidentally lose their kids, perhaps in a busy park or a shop, but not like this.
Joey and Chandler are looking after their friends' son as a favor when they just totally forget about him to hit on some strangers. It's something that wouldn't be seen as funny anymore, but instead would be seen as quite serious neglect.
Others Mocking His Intelligence
Joey isn't the smartest member of the group, and while he's not stupid, he isn't exactly intelligent either. There's nothing wrong with that, per se. After all, everyone in real life has varying degrees of cleverness. However, what wouldn't go down well today is how other people mocked him for this.
Sometimes Joey would say or do something that just didn't make sense, simply because he didn't understand it. This would lead to other people making a joke out of it. Nowadays, this just isn't something that is accepted. Just look at his attempt to speak French as the perfect example of this.
Womanizer
The main aspect of Joey's character that just wouldn't be accepted nowadays is his womanizing. He happily goes from one lady to the next, often showing very little signs of care or compassion about how quickly the relationships end or whether or not he hurts the other.
He was a very stereotypical male sitcom character from that period, with sleeping with lots of random women being at the top of his priority list. Unfortunately for the show, nowadays this just wouldn't go down as well on a sitcom and, therefore, Joey's character would likely be different.