10 Biggest Friends Urban Legends
4. Chandler Was Originally Going To Be Gay
One of the more believable urban legends states that Chandler was originally supposed to be gay.
Given the show's rather heteronormative central cast of characters, a gay lead would've been a welcome dose of representation, especially considering Friends' eventually complicated history with the LGBT community.
It's even something of a running gag in the show itself that numerous characters think the most flamboyant friend is gay, but this was actually put firmly to rest all the way back in a 1996 edition of LGBT-interest magazine The Advocate.
The article in question mentions that numerous prominent commentators believed that Chandler would eventually come out of the closet, possibly even with Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in tow, to which co-creator Crane - who is himself gay - responded:
"He's straight. He's not gay and in denial...It doesn't surprise me that people would think he's gay, but in our minds, he isn't...We didn't go into this determined that Chandler would be straight. If we had cast a different actor - who was gay - there was the option that we would have taken the character in that direction."
Basically, Chandler could have been gay in different circumstances, but there was no concrete plan to do so, nor any changes made when Matthew Perry was cast.