The Lesbian Wedding Episode Of 'Friends' Was Banned From Airing

So we're all familiar with Friends, right? Of course we are. Whether you love or hate it, you almost certainly know all about it.

You'll know that there's six of them, and they spend more time than seems feasible hanging out in the same coffee house. You probably know about the will-they-won't-they saga with Ross and Rachel, as well as their 'break'. You know that Monica is obsessively clean, Chandler is 'the funny one', Phoebe is all kinds of zany and Joey is... well, Joey.

But do you know about The One That Got Banned?

Credit: ITV/Lorraine

When the series starts, Ross is divorced and living alone, after his wife Carol had embarked on a lesbian affair that became a full-blown relationship. As the show moves on, we find out that she is pregnant with his child, but is now living with her partner Susan.

Eventually, Ben is born and lives with Carol and Susan - much to Ross's disliking - and the couple soon tie the knot.

Unfortunately, the episode where that happens, titled 'The One with the Lesbian Wedding' was banned from airing on certain NBC affiliates, Some Entertainment reports.

Jane Sibbett and Jessica Hecht, who portrayed Carol and Susan, appeared on ITV's Lorraine to chat about the show and the episode, which didn't air in certain counties in Texas and Ohio.

Friends

Credit: NBC/Friends

"It was the first lesbian wedding to ever be shown on TV and they blocked it out in some affiliates," Jane said. "But it all worked out as we got so much press because they blocked it. We actually won awards for that storyline."

She added: "I remember meeting a man at one awards ceremony that was held by an organisation that works with gay families.

"He said to me that if he'd had Carol and Susan as role models when he was a young boy, he probably wouldn't have tried to [die by] suicide so many times. I hadn't even thought of that."

It's not the only scene to be banned, either, as another was removed from a later episode.

Two weeks after 9/11, 'The One Where Rachel Tells Ross' was aired, though there was a chunk missing.

In the scene where Chandler and Monica go on their honeymoon, Chandler is taken into an interrogation room after making a joke about a sign which says: "Federal law prohibits any joking regarding aircraft hijacking or bombing."

He's subsequently taken for questioning...

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

On a special feature the creators of the show explained why the scene was removed and why it was eventually released.

They said: "The following scenes were deleted from the episode 'The One Where Rachel Tells Ross' and are being presented here for the first time.

"The story involved Chandler joking with security at an airport and was to air two weeks after the events of September 11, 2001. In light of this, we decided to replace the original story.

"As part of the history of the show, we hope that the scenes can now be viewed in the spirit which they were originally intended."

Topics: 9/11, Lesbian, Friends

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.