Lisa Kudrow reveals which 'Friends' reunion guest star shocked her the most

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By Nika Shakhnazarova

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The highly-anticipated Friends reunion is just days away, and it's safe to say fans across the globe are counting down the seconds till they see their favorite six together again.

And in the lead-up to the big day, actress Lisa Kudrow - who found fame starring as Phoebe Buffay on the hit sitcom - expressed her excitement for the HBO Max special, which is set to air on May 27.

Alongside the famous six, consisting of: Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer, there is a slew of guest stars gracing the reunion special.

Set to make an appearance in the reunion special are: James Corden, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliot Gould, Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling, Kit Harington, Christina Pickles, Tom Selleck, Thomas Lennon, Maggie Wheeler, James Michael Tyler, Malala Yousafzai, and Reese Witherspoon.

And Kudrow has revealed just which famous face she was most shocked to see.

She told New York Post: "There's just a lot of surprises — like, things we weren't expecting. People showing up that we were surprised by. There's a lot going on in it.

"I was like, 'Wait, that's Justin Bieber. Right? Would he be here? Is he here? He's really here; that's Justin Bieber!'

"That was kind of exciting. I'm throwing in a 'kind of' so that I seem a little cooler. It was exciting. I don't get excited about meeting people - but Justin Bieber, he's exciting."

Despite the star-studded line-up of guest stars, the sitcom has recently come under scrutiny for failing to star any Black celebrities as guests.

Although the special does boast a number of POC cameos, there are no African-American performers involved.

What's more, actress Aisha Tyler, who portrayed love interest Dr. Charlie Wheeler for nine episodes of the original series, was not included in the list of attendees.

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Justin Bieber is set to make an appearance as a guest star on the Friends Reunion. Credit: REUTERS / Alamy

This is not the first time lack of diversity has been a talking point about the sitcom. Back in 2020, Kudrow commented on the subject in an interview with The Sunday Times.

When asked by the publication what would change about the show if it had been made today, Kudrow replied: "It would not be an all-white cast, for sure."

Kudrow went on: "I'm not sure what else, but, to me, it should be looked at as a time capsule, not for what they did wrong.

"This show thought it was very progressive. There was a guy whose wife discovered she was gay and pregnant, and they raised the child together. We had surrogacy too."

Featured image credit: Broadimage Entertainment / Alamy