If Gossip Girl premiered today, it would essentially be a think-piece generator. Much as we love it, the show was problematic as hell from day one—the very first episode featured Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) trying to sexually assault two of the show's lead female characters, before the writers realized what they had in Ed Westwick and had to awkwardly retcon him into a romantic lead.
Then there's the show's glaring lack of diversity, which largely wasn't commented upon at the time but would definitely be an issue now. Sure, it's the Upper East Side, but it's still New York. In a new interview with Vulture, executive producer Josh Safran admits that this is one of his few regrets about the show.
"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 said. "Those are the two things I think we probably could have delved into more deeply."
The only non-white character in the show's principal cast was Vanessa Abrams—Jessica Szohr, who played Vanessa, is mixed-race, and Vanessa's mom was played by Gina Torres. As for gay representation, Serena's brother Eric (Connor Paolo) came out during season one, but his dating life never got the same focus as that of the show's heterosexual characters. Oh, and Chuck was pretty openly bisexual in the GG books, which wasn't really the case in the series, except for that one time he kissed a guy as part of some weird power play with Blair.
