According to Deadline, Friends actor Steve Park (Do the Right Thing) looks back at the series claiming it was “an extremely painful experience” for him. Park a Korean-American actor guest-starred on the second and third seasons of the series and during a recent appearance on Pod Meets World recalled how uncomfortable and allegedly racist the environment on set was for an Asian actor.

“It was at the time, I felt it was kind of a toxic environment,” Park said. “James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) was the actor who was also on the episode with me, and the assistant director was calling him to the set and you know, essentially saying, ‘Where the fuck is the Oriental guy? Get the Oriental guy.’”

He continued, “This is bigger than this show. This isn’t the first time that this happened, you know, but this is the environment where this is business as usual in Hollywood in 1997, I guess it was. And nobody felt the need to correct this or say anything about it. So this is normal behavior.”

As per Deadline, Park wrote a Mission statement titled “Struggling For Dignity” and sent it to everyone via his email list during his frustration.

“Being an Asian-American actor, I continue to struggle to find roles for myself that are not insulting and stereotypical,” he wrote at the time.

“I just finished working as a guest star on one of the highest-rated shows on television, which brings me to my next point,” Park continued in his statement. “Working with the people involved with this show was an extremely painful experience for me. A disturbing lack in generosity of spirit and basic human courtesy, in addition to a racial incident on the set, has forced me to speak out.”

Park is known for his roles in Fargo as Mike Yanagita, Roger Cho in  Asteroid City, Nescaffier in The French Dispatch  and most recently as Zeke in Mickey 17.