Gossip Girl was, in many ways, a cultural touchstone, but that doesn't mean it was perfect. As any fan of the show will be quick to remind you, Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) tried to rape two people in the show's pilot — and he finished the series with a fairytale wedding. But aside from the show's controversial onscreen decisions, there's also a pretty obvious issue with its casting.
The six main characters of Gossip Girl are all white, cisgender, and heterosexual. The most diversity among the crowd is the area between Chuck's Twilight-level whiteness and Nate's (Chace Crawford) tan. And it sounds like, in retrospect, the people calling the shots regret that decision.
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Gossip Girl creators Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, along with executive producer Joshua Safran, talked to Vulture about the show, and the lack of characters of color came up during the conversation.
"When I look back on Gossip Girl, the only things I regret were not as much representation for people of color and gay story lines," Safran told Vulture. "Those are the two things I think we probably could have delved into more deeply, but other than that, I only regret things like not showing Chuck finger Blair and the dildos and other sexual stuff."
Of course, there were characters of color on the show. Most notably, Vanessa Abrams (Jessica Szohr), Dan's longtime friend and Nate's once love interest, was biracial. (Back in 2007, one of Jessica Pressler and Chris Rovzar's early Gossip Girl recaps questioned whether Vanessa was Black or white.) And Serena's (Blake Lively) brother, Eric (Connor Paolo), eventually came out as gay to his family and friends. Still, the main cast were incredibly privileged for many reasons, including their race — a fact that's even more obvious on the show's 10th anniversary.
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